Help Your Teenager Beat an Eating Disorder, First Edition

I've read the reviews that say it is unrealistic what they are asking parents to do. I disagree. I never thought my daughter could get this illness, she was smart, she was fit, an athlete who never had a body image problem in her life. When she got interested in healthy eating, was happy. When she started obsessing over recipes and cooking, I thought it was great. It seems like the next time I blinked she was a vegetarian, and then immediately she had all but stopped eating (but not her obsession with all things food). Panic does not describe what we went through for a week until she could be seen in Dr. Lock's clinic. She was hospitalized for almost two weeks while we learned everything we could about how to treat anorexia. After meeting with doctors, therapists, dieticians and educators, we were 100% convinced and committed to family based therapy. Both of us read this book cover to cover before she was released fromt he hospital. We sat with her practicing in the hospital and setting expectations for when she returned home. We had three things going for us: she hadn't been ill for long, we live in a region with access to excellent care, and we have a parent who could take time off work to save our daughter's life. It wasn't easy, but this therapy works. It makes perfect sense. My daughter has confirmed over and over that if we hadn't "taken over" she is sure she would never been able to get control of herself back. The light is back in her eyes, Her healthy brain is overriding the lingering anorexic thoughts, and she is almost back to full activity, although we will be carefully monitoring her for a long time to come. Please don't wait, if you are concerned about your child, read this book and take fast action. We tried meeting with a nutritionist and a general therapist first and in the weeks we lost in doing so, her health really eroded. It might be hard to prepare, sit through and monitor your child's eating five times a day for a few months, but it would be far more difficult to bury your baby. Anorexia has the highest mortality rate of all mental illness, and you can't afford to try "easier" treatment first. Good luck, be strong.

If your child has any symptoms whatsoever of an eating disorder, this book MUST be your first and only stop. The Introduction alone says, in essence: They aren't doing this for attention. This is NOT your fault as a parent. There is not an easy answer, but as a parent you absolutely must be involved in helping your child overcome this disorder, because they can't do it without your help.For about 7 months, I let my daughter handle her own eating and exercising. She had been overweight, and dropped about 35 lbs in 3 months. She looked great, seemed happy, was involved in sports, had friends... But somewhere along the line, things started to slip. She stopped eating carbs at first, and ate a "healthy" diet. Then I caught her vomiting. She swore she was never going to do it again, and seemed to get better for awhile, but it kept cycling like that until we reached a point where she will only eat a couple certain foods that are safe. She can eat nothing besides those. Exercises every day. She gets straight A's, but she no longer has any friends and doesn't have a boyfriend either. She has thrown away everything, and all she knows how to do is restrict and purge and sit at home waiting for life to find her.And I tried to control it, and I took her to a counselor and a nutrition all specialist...and then I blamed her, and myself, and everyone around us... until in anger, I reached out to a clinic and found help in family based therapy. This book was in the lobby. PLEASE READ IT. There is hope in this approach. The counselor we saw initially knew nothing, she even seemed to make things worse.

When my daughter spiraled down into anorexia we checked out 6 books and purchased another 7. This was the single most helpful of all of them. We got information from each of them, but this one synthesizes the information in understandable and concise form. Our daughter got down to a Body Mass Index of 14 and was at the threshold of hospitalization. We committed our family fully to the Maudsley Method which James Lock is a leading expert in. We have had tremendous success over two months and feel like we are firmly on the recovery track. I can not stress strongly enough that you the family have to become in charge of your daughter's recovery. Commit yourselves 100% to full nutrition every meal, every day. There will be tantrums, 3 hour breakfasts, crying, horrible things said by the daughter, but . . . . . . eventually she eats more . . . then more . . . then she slowly then steadily gains to a health weight. As she gains the behaviors and moods associated with starvation go away. Do not count on any of your care team being familiar with or supportive of Maudsley methodology. You might have to change the treatment team or become the leader. Traditional teaching stresses that eating disorders may be caused by family dysfunction or abuse or underlying mental illness. Maudsley does not focus on the why at first, but rather concentrates on re-feeding to restore normal brain function. Then any underlying issues can be addressed successfully without the effects of starvation getting in the way. Remember, you probably did not cause your daughter to have anorexia. But, you can help her recover.

there are a lot of things that will start to make sense to you whilst reading this book. It will even help you pin point when your child ED started to manifest itself.There is useful advice (it is imperative that you get your child professional help asap) but the book mainly helps the lay man understand what they are up against. You cannot do much for your child if you do not understand what could possibly happen in their head.Highly recommend it. I barely took any minutes off reading this book...

My daughter was diagnosed with anorexia in May this year and it was suggested in the support group we go to that this book would be a great help to us. When I started reading it it sounded familiar to what was happening to my daughter so although it scary to read it will be helpful in the long run.

More useful for someone with an older teenager who is capable of understanding how their mind works and who, on the road to recovery, can use the concepts to make the necessary changes within their own head.

Excellent book for any parent who's child has an eating disorder. Very informative and easy to understand

Brilliant book helped me to understand eating disorders better and how I can help my teeneage daughter - before reading I felt at a lose but now feel much more confident I can help her be well