• "I did nothing wrong. I'm a good person. Why is this happening?" Historically, eating disorder treatment professionals viewed parents as the cause of the problem, demanding "parentectomies" to insure cure; at time of child's greatest need for parental input, guidance and emotional bonding, they prescribed emotional distancing to facilitate autonomy.
   
• Nature v. nurture. Short of abusing their child, scientific research has proven that parents are not to blame for causing their child's eating disorder. In fact, genetics (clusters of genes describing temperament, the history of family addiction, mood and anxiety disorders, eating disorders, etc.) are accountable for 70-80 percent of disease origin. This reality becomes particularly salient in instances of adoption where there may have been early abandonment issues. Brain research shows that through a versatile and quality relationship with their child, parental interaction with the child has the potential to ameliorate genetic propensities. Reading early warning signs gives parents a "leg up" for early intervention, prevention and healing.
   
• Eating disorders occur in bathrooms, kitchens, at gyms, at restaurants, showing up at home, with families, as 87% of sufferers are under the age of 20 and reside with parents. Children also recover at home. If not part of the solution, parents and families are part of the problem.
   

Parental role in treatment and recovery

• Informed parents have the potential to become MVPs of multi-disciplinary treatment team. (consisting of therapist, medical doctor, nutritionist, psycho-pharmacologist, school personnel, etc) Parents need to discover how best to support their recovering child, whose needs change throughout the process of healing and personal development.
   
• Mood disorders, such as bi-polar disorder type II, can sometimes take on the appearance of addictions or ADHD. It is up to parents to find expert treating professionals, and to hold them accountable to accurately diagnose and medicate co-occurring conditions.
   
• Be aware that professionals typically resist diagnosing (labeling) adolescents with mood disorders such as bi-polar disorder, because the defining impulsive or addictive-like symptoms could also have their roots in other genetic origins (such as alcoholism, ADHD) or may simply be chaotic manifestations of the eating disorder itself. If it "looks like a duck and quacks like a duck"…. the afflicted individual needs to be medicated appropriately to address the symptoms; all too frequently, suicide results from bi-polar disorder gone un-medicated.