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Any ideas for parents with eating disorders?


I have a 14 year old daughter who is very anorexic. We are seeing a Pediatrician once a week, a counselor, a dietitian, going to a children's hospital for outpatient treatment, and after 6 months she only has one goal in life...to loose weight. She does not care if she can have children, does not care about her future, does not care about anyone else, and does not care if she lives or dies. We have tried everything we can think of, any other ideas what parents can directly do that might help?

Depending on where you are living there are some schools that are part of an outpatient system with hospitals to help kids in her situation. I went to one when I was younger (about 14 actually). It was part boarding school, as I went to school on monday, staid till Thursday and then came home. I was only there for about 4 to 5 months all up, and they worked in part with my actual school to make sure I wasn't behind when returning to my normal school.

I made some good friends there, and saw some of the long term effects with the older students. They had some interesting events to keep as interested. There was a weekly weigh in and conselling session. A balanced diet and training etc.

It was my Dr that contacted my school to organise a referral etc, so Im not sure who you'd approach etc but make some inquiries. You cant do much to change her attitude/goal at the moment, not directly, but give her other options and things to focus on. Encourage other activities, hobbies, goods friends to be around (not other girls with same situation to egg her on etc).

like your daughter, i have an eating disorder. i am currently in recovery, but not recovered, and i have realized that there are some things that parents can do which help, and others which are counterproductive. i don't know if anything i can tell you will help, but i'll give you my honest opinion and hope it helps you.
personally, i think that the focus in recovery should always be on the emotional side of the eating disorder because that is what is causing the food restriction. just being there to listen, without judgement and without telling her that she's wrong, will be very important because i think that if she can have someone who truly cares about her who will listen, that will help her a lot and it may help her to discover some things about herself or her eating disorder that she may not have realized. be informed and supportive, and don't make assumptions about eating disorders, and always remember that it's not about the weight or the calories or the food, but the underlying issues. it might help you and her to join a support group where you can meet other people going through the same issues who might be able to share some of their personal experience with you.
as far as weight gain, don't push it on her too suddenly. yes, she probably needs to gain weight, but from my personal experience (i was hospitalized and forced to gain 20 pounds in 3 weeks), it only creates a lot of issues if you force her to gain weight in a way that she doesn't like or if you force her to gain weight too quickly. let her eat the foods she enjoys and listen to her advice when she talks about how she thinks things should be going in her recovery (that doesn't mean you should follow it, but listen and honestly consider what she has to say).
be open to her ideas and her point of view, and ask her to do the same for you - to openmindedly listen to what you think and to look at what is said in recovery programs with an open mind. does she have any goals, aspirations, things she likes to do? if she does, these could be points that you could bring up with her. does she like who she is now? is she happy this way?
also, i've found that i am able to be much more cooperative when i am given fewer rules and the goals that i am set are more reachable. so, rather than telling her she must eat 3000 calories of exactly what the dietician ordered and she cannot exercise in any way, you could tell her to eat 2000 calories of whatever food she likes and do yoga rather than all-out exercising. that way, she will be more likely to see your goals for her as doable and achievable and she won't feel the need to rebel as much.
these are just a few ideas that i thought of, but if you would like any more thoughts or if you would like the honest perspective of someone who is going through what your daughter is, my email is laurelle117@yahoo.com
i hope this helped, and i wish you the best of luck with your daughter.

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