Is Anorexia Family Related Problems?

Rabu, 11 Januari 2012

Let me give you an example of family dynamics that contribute to the development of certain eating disorders in adolescents. I work with families, last year, where my father was diagnosed with a terminal illness. As the family gathered around him, no family members to help take care of the needs of children, while their mothers attend to the needs of their father.

Some things that happen in this situation. The children not only lost their father to a debilitating disease worsening, they also lost their mother because she did all she could take care of her husband and her children at the same time.

The second thing that happened was the oldest mother and teenage daughter developed a special bond after father's death. A few years later my mother met a man and get married again, and the eldest daughter felt abandoned and a deep sense of loss. He lost his father, his mother during his father's illness, had a mother again after he died and now to lose him again for another husband. Within a few months of her mother's remarriage, they are in my office because the daughter refused to eat and lose weight.

Let's take a look at this objectively. Is the fault of parents of their daughter developing an eating disorder? No. Are they the things that happen in families that contributed to the development of eating disorders? You decide. This family is doing the best they can to cope with a devastating disease and traumatic loss. They do not see the ground ripening for eating disorders to develop and what will the family?

The reality is most families are rolling along and then one day someone notices a pattern of behavior that raises a red flag. Your child will go to the bathroom more frequently after eating; she wore baggy clothes, more irritable at mealtime, and withdraw from family and friends. You may have noticed the pieces from time to time, but suddenly the pieces seem to be getting bigger and began to develop a new image in your mind. You wonder, "Am I seeing what I think I saw?"

And when the truth came out, you wonder how you did not see and where you went wrong. I can not emphasize enough what a balance between understanding family dynamics as possible and work together to change them. This is no fault and no one to blame.

You are a family and when one of you sick, you are all injured. Each family member contributes to the dynamics of families and contribute to changing dynamics. The important thing is to pull together and find help and treatment that will work for your family.

Let's take a look at this from one angle end. The fact that girls develop eating disorders to let her know there is something that needs their attention. This family is capable of undergoing a large amount of healing for eating disorders daughter called attention to grief and loss and they are.

Families need help too, they just do not know it. It is possible to see eating disorders as an opportunity for families to heal and grow. This is a much needed perspective in the treatment of eating disorders.