Re:Eating Disorders

People have different experiences with anorexia, but there are many common threads between them. Talk to people who have been through this, and to their families. There are support groups on the Internet where people will share their experiences.

There is some theoretical information available of various kinds, but from my experience it is not as helpful as the experience of people who have been through it personally. As far as I have been able to determine, there is no answer, just supportive care and therapy while they find the resources in them to turn themselves around. There are a lot of hints people can offer, and intervention, coping, and recovery strategies others can offer, and some are more helpful than others. Thre are some books with hints.

Every family who goes through this and commits to try to help (some give up, I found) accumulates their own stock of ways to help their loved one see the effects of their problem on others and ways to help them stay healthy. It seems like an uphill battle, but it can often be won.

The thing that makes it tricky is that they are not working with you for their benefit in most cases, they are working against themselves and not realizing it. They usually cannot imagine that they are not doing the right thing for themselves, their thinking will be very different in some ways, from the way their loved ones will be thinking about the problem.

Be prepared for a long and painful struggle in most cases, and if it is hardcore anorexia and they are near starvation and no longer feeling any appetite at all or becoming phobic of food and refusing help, you may not be able to help and can expect possible hospitalization for a period during the worst of it to be neccessary.

The main lesson I took away from dealing with this problem was to take it very seriously from the start. Treat it as a potentially serious medical problem, as well as a behavioral problem, because if you don't manage to turn it around it will become both.

In really hardcare situations, it is sometimes neccessary to have a team of people helping support you, medically, psychologically, nutritionally.

kind regards,

Todd

Replies:

Re:Eating Disorders, by Don, 02/22/03 Re:Eating Disorders, by J.C. Tredway, 02/23/03 Re:Eating Disorders, by Annonymous, 02/27/03 Re:Eating Disorders, by J.C. Tredway, 03/23/03 Re:Eating Disorders, by Annonymous, 03/27/03 Re:Eating Disorders, by J.C. Tredway, 03/28/03 some more thoughts on eating disorders, by Todd, 03/04/03 Notes from a patient, by Hungry, 06/05/04 Re:Notes from a patient, by Valerie Kirby, Ph.D., 06/06/04 Thanks, Valerie -- finally quit therapy, by Hungry, 06/07/04 Re:Thanks, Valerie -- finally quit therapy, by Valerie Kirby, Ph.D., 06/08/04

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