Tag: families

I usually say it all started in 2020 when I was 14, but I don’t know if that’s true. I mean, yeah, that’s when I began to lose weight, but I hated myself well before then. My family had been on and off “family diets” since I was young. I...

Being a child with an eating disorder is no fun. I survived a 15-year-long battle with anorexia, the deadliest psychiatric illness. My childhood was shadowed by ruminating on my body’s appearance, constantly exploring new ways of secretly hiding uneaten food, and exercising intensely. During short periods of adolescence when I...

Early responses to the call for family stories about experience with Family Based Treatment (FBT) for treatment of anorexia nervosa have been a revelation. I posted the call on my blog in October to invite first-person stories for the Second Edition of My Kid is Back – Empowering Parents to...

A new counselling service is providing education and support for those caring for someone with an eating disorder. Eating Disorders Families Australia’s (EDFA) new Fill The Gap counselling service is specifically designed to support eating disorder carers during the often long and exhausting years of supporting a loved one through...

Exciting news! Professor Daniel Le Grange and I are writing an update to the first edition of My Kid is Back – Empowering Parents to Beat Anorexia Nervosa.  Families who have participated in Family-Based Treatment (FBT) for a child with Anorexia Nervosa (AN) are warmly invited to share their stories...

In last month’s column, I communicated my surprise that there are no published studies of prevention of disordered eating (DE) and EDs in high-risk (HR) families. This situation exists despite evidence demonstrating genetic risk factors for eating disorders and the value of including families in the treatment of child/adolescent eating disorders...

Families do not cause an eating disorder (ED). However, the family’s role in treatment and recovery is crucial. This is because the best place to heal from an ED is in the home. However, for this to happen, we need greater support in the home, to enable carers to practise...

If we as professionals and parents do not start changing and protecting our youngsters, who will do it? Dr. Eva Trujillo explains why we (the world) cannot afford to wait in addressing eating disorders. When my friend June Alexander asked me to write for the World Eating Disorders Action Day...