Help Your Teenager Beat an Eating Disorder

In truth, living with a child who has developed anorexia can make you feel as if you are insane.

First, there is little scientific evidence supporting the notion that parents, and mothers in particular, of children with anorexia nervosa, systematically differ from others in how they have parented their children.

As we’ve pointed out, there’s not much evidence that you’re to blame for your child’s eating disorder. However, there is growing evidence that you can be part of the solution,

As it pertains to anorexia, the theory suggests that children with this disorder have difficulty with feeling assertive and independent and, as a result, confuse control over eating and weight with other psychological and emotional needs related to independence and confidence.

It requires a bit more tact or judgment to decide how much information about why the child has been out of school is appropriate to share.

be reasonable in your expectations of both yourself and your child for making behavior changes. Changing behaviors will take some time;

This inadequate sense of self is supposedly due to insufficient nurture and respect for the child’s needs and failure to sufficiently separate maternal needs from those of the developing child.

Having the whole family eat together as much as possible definitely makes a difference, because that way your son or daughter knows that everyone is trying to help her.

(Not surprisingly, those whose thoughts about eating and weight are still distorted even after their weight is normalized usually have a poorer prognosis than those whose thought processes improve along with their weight.)