For Parents - Information on eating disordersEating disorders involve extreme disturbances in eating behaviors—following rigid diets, gorging on food in secret, throwing up after meals, obsessively counting calories.
Purging is used to combat feelings of helplessness and self-loathing. Over time, people with such disorders lose the ability to see themselves objectively and obsessions over food and weight come to dominate everything else in life. Some information on food related disorders appears to be rather static in nature, giving both sufferers and their families the impression that there is something intrinsically 'wrong' with them. Assertions such as this: Certain personality traits are common in people with eating disorders, which include: * low self-esteem * perfectionism * a need to please others * mood problems, especially depression * mental health problems such as disruptive rituals - for more information please see the separate BUPA factsheet, Obsessive-compulsive disorder. An eating disorder may bring a sense of control and achievement to certain people with these personality traits. (BUPA) are static in the sense that they imply that there is something 'fixed' about the person suffering and that he or she is somehow destined to develop an eating disorder. We believe that this kind of conclusion is unhelpful because it does not allow the sufferer or their loved ones to have any hope for change. Given a certain set of circumstances, anybody can develop such 'personality traits.' Nobody's personality is fixed - we all adopt certain roles and types of behavior in order to adapt to our environment. At the end of the day, you know your child, and what may be causing his or her unhappiness. As much as he or she needs medical help - cognitive behavior therapy is wonderful - Click here to discover how cognitve therapy can help sufferers of eating disorders Your child really needs to know how much you love him/her, and it's really important that this is shown in tangible ways. Any quality time spent that revolves around nurture - physical, spiritual or emotional - is time well spent, and will help your child to focus on the bonds between you, taking his/her mind off the preoccupation with food and weight. To read more about alternative therapies, and how they may help, please click the link on the nav bar.
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People with eating disorders use food to deal with uncomfortable or painful emotions. Restricting food is used to feel in control. Overeating temporarily soothes sadness, anger, or loneliness. 
Activities such as sport, watching movies together, and tactile pursuits which involve intimacy on both parts, such as massage, or even learning reflexology or aromatherapy together, can be very helpful as they focus on the body in view of it's relation to the whole person, and it's need for nurture.
