Parents & Carers
Parents and Carers
It is likely that you are concerned about your loved one and worried about the dangers implied in their current eating patterns. You might sometimes find that your loved one is ambivalent about seeking help or perhaps in denial that there is a problem. You may be overwhelmed with information or lack thereof and unsure of the next steps. It might be that your first step is to approach a medical professional.
People with eating disorders often struggle to access specialist treatment services due to:
- 1. Not meeting specific criteria required for outpatient or inpatient settings
- 2. Limited specialist treatment resources in their locality
- 3. Long waiting times from referral to treatment
The impact:
- 1. Reduced quality of life
- 2. Deteriorating mental and physical health
- 3. Increase in the severity of their symptoms
- 4. Believing they are not ill enough for or even deserve treatment
These experiences and fears are likely to increase your anxiety and distress. Eating disorders can disrupt family life and challenge your coping abilities. They have a detrimental impact not only on the wellbeing of your loved one but on those close to them.
Stepping into a solution:
Weknow that early intervention saves lives. We increase access to specialised treatment by :
- 1. Eliminating geographical distance to treatment services
- 2. Adapting and enhancing treatment through the use of videoconferencing technologies
- 3. Accessing treatment in a timely manner
- 4. Providing continued adherence to evidence-based practice
Research on a variety of different therapeutic formats with diverse populations indicate no significant difference in outcome between online therapy and traditional in-person psychotherapy (Backhaus, et.al., 2012, in Videoconferencing psychotherapy: A systematic review)
You are a valuable resource. You are part of the solution.
Many parents feel guilty and worry that they are responsible for their child’s eating disorder. This is not the case, however, you are likely to feel emotional, isolated and exhausted at times as you support your loved one during their recovery from an eating disorder. Facilitating eating can often result in arguments leading to stressful meal encounters. Unfortunately, this impacts the whole family, which can additionally elicit feelings of guilt on behalf of your loved one.
In order to help facilitate and increase the effectiveness of treatment, it is often helpful for parents to engage in some of the treatment sessions.Using a systemic model,
we work together on facilitating communication by encouraging support with eating and meal tasks outside of the session. Some parents or family members might wish to schedule additional sessions on their own in order to expand their communication skills to better manage interpersonal contexts.
