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Got Guilt? Parents tend to feel guilty, blamed, and ashamed when their child is diagnosed with anorexia, bulimia, or other eating disorders. These feelings, though natural, often prevent parents from taking decisive action to help their children recover. Sometimes the blaming is self-driven and sometimes it is generated by media messages, the remarks of well-meaning family members and friends and even comments by health care professionals. According to the National Institute of Mental Health eating disorders are not caused by stubbornness or a failure of will; rather they are treatable medical illnesses triggered by neurobiological, psychological, and environmental influences. Certainly highly destructive family/marital patterns can contribute to the development of stress-related coping mechanisms, like eating disorders, in children. However, eating disorders can also develop in loving, well-functioning families. Parents and families can however, provide an important and positive influence on the recovery process. As a gift to parents who feel blamed, ashamed, or guilty Laura Collins, mother of a young woman with an eating disorder and author of Eating With Your Anorexic produced a short video that includes excerpts from interviews with eating disorder experts to help families realize they are not to blame. To view Laura’s video Do Parents Cause Eating Disorders? The Experts Speak visit the Academy for Eating Disorders website at www.aedweb.org/video/parents.cfm.
Seeking Help If you suspect your child, friend, or loved one has an eating disorder it is important to intervene as soon as possible. The first step is to schedule an evaluation with a trained eating disorder treatment specialist---a physician, psychotherapist, or nutritionist or treatment program. To schedule an assessment at our Center call 734-668-8585 or email info@center4ed.org.
Sign on to Support Patient/Family Bill of Rights! The Academy for Eating Disorders (AED), with input from over 1700 professionals, family members, and patients from 46 countries, created the AED World Wide Charter for Action on Eating Disorders, a bill of rights for people with eating disorders and their families. The Charter defines the rights and expectations that people with eating disorders and their families can seek from those responsible for health policies and practices worldwide. The goal is to form a united coalition that can persuade policy makers around the globe to commit to the actions set forth in the Charter. To view a copy of the charter or to sign on in support of the charter go to www.aedweb.org/public/WorldCharter.cfm.
Other valuable resources for families and friends: |
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