Tag: psychology

How does an eating disorder affect you and your child?

Chapter 2. What’s going on in the mind of someone with an eating disorder? And what’s it like for you the parent? The aim of this chapter is to lead the way to understanding and compassion for yourself and for your child.
Which eating-disorder treatments work?

Chapter 12. What are the principles of successful therapies? What should you look for when choosing a therapist or treatment centre? And what are the red flags for poor treatment? I tell you more about family therapy and other approaches, suggest how to work in partnership with clinicians and when it might be better to…
Self-compassion: how to recover your inner strength

Self-compassion: why, and how? A well-validated way of managing your emotions and feeling better. Then you can model the skills for your child to strengthen them against the eating disorder’s cruel inner critic.
How to calm your child when the eating disorder heightens anxiety and panic

Tips to bring calm to your child, deal with panic attacks and meltdowns, and help your child cope with the many challenges they face while they’re suffering from an eating disorder
Bizarre yet normal eating disorder symptoms

Bizarre but normal effects of an eating disorder and malnutrition. These will pass with eating disorder treatment.
Start here: find the information you need NOW

This website has lots of information, and I’ve produced many more resources. I guide you to the bits you need right now.
Three routes out of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)

In this post I offer you three evidence-based approaches to address the effect of traumas large and small, including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Our lives, as we support a child with an eating disorder, is peppered with distressing or fearful events — some affect us for a day, and some can bring us to tears,…
Help with compassion, self-compassion and sleep

Video resources I have found very helpful to build me up fast when I’ve been knocked down. Later I developed my own resources (available on this website), especially for parents in our situation.
Psychotherapy approaches: which might help?

There are a huge number of psychotherapy methods out there. It’s helpful for us parents to know a little about them, both so we can assess what’s being offered to our kids and so we can find something for ourselves. In my book I explain how psychotherapy is not a first line of treatment for…
Eating disorders: understand where psychotherapists are coming from

Psychotherapists, if they’re not specialised in the latest on eating disorders, may waste time on “insight” into “underlying” psychological “causes”.
Don’t beat up your child (or yourself) for failing in spite of therapy

Anyone who engages with psychotherapy is showing courage and willingness to make changes and take risks. The greater the changes, the more we’re likely to stumble and fail for a while. It takes time to use new tools. I make a plea to all families to be patient with the process and to resist criticising…