In Seeking Effective Health Professionals…………

Do not be taken in or misled by health professionals who:

May not be familiar with the unique protocols of eating disorder treatment.
Believe that parents are at fault.
Believe that for ethical reasons, they cannot offer interested parents any kind of information about eating disorders, the child’s recovery efforts, or the parent’s role in facilitating recovery at home.
Believe that a parent’s wish to become involved in family treatment indicates “enmeshment” within the family system.
Believe that encouraging emotional distance is the preferred way to promote independent function and the capacity of the child to separate from family. Quite the contrary, bonding and connectedness are what allows the child to learn the essentials of autonomous survival first, before going off on his or her own.
Do not understand the potentially positive impact the family system can have on the child’s recovery.
Do not appreciate how eating disorder issues are generally shared by the family, how they effect family function, and are affected by changing family dynamics. Family therapy allows for the sharing of information without breaches in confidentiality; it fosters trust, open and direct communication, interpersonal well-being and problem-resolution. Change within the family system enables change in the afflicted child.
May not be comfortable conceptualizing the individual child’s therapy in a “family systems framework” or be sufficiently skilled to involve the family in constructive ways. Families may be brought together for regular or occasional family therapy or information getting and sharing sessions. They may be educated through phone and face-to-face contacts as well.
Do not envision treatment as a partnership among patient, professionals and parents.
See parental inclusion as a threat to their professional relationship with the child.
Who may pit the child against the parent, creating chasms and deepening rifts.

Psychotherapist Abigail H. Natenshon has specialized in the treatment of eating disorders with individuals, families, and groups for the past 31years. She is the author of When Your Child Has An Eating Disorder, A Step-by-Step Workbook For Parents And Other Caregivers, Jossey-Bass, 1999. Based on hundreds of successful outcomes, this book shepherds concerned parents step-by-step through the processes of eating disorder recognition, confronting the child, finding the most effective treatment for patient and family, and evaluating and insuring a timely recovery. A guide to eating disorder prevention, this book is useful to parents, health professionals and school personnel alike in countering the pervasive epidemic of unhealthy eating and body image concerns, and destructive media and peer influences. Her work can be reviewed further at www.empoweredparents.com, www.empoweredkidZ.com, www.treatingeatingdisorders.com.