When Your Child Has an Eating Disorder: A Step-By-Step Workbook for Parents and Other Caregivers

Written by Abigail H. Natenshon

Excerpt from When Your Child Has an Eating Disorder: A Step-By-Step Workbook for Parents and Other Caregivers by Abigail H. Natenshon. The book is designed to help parents understand the importance of being involved with professionals in working to heal eating disorders and gives parents direction on how to be involved in their child's recovery.

Chapter 2: Recognizing Signs of Disease

Does your child have an eating disorder or could he be in the process of developing one? Answering this question can be tricky, as indicators of the disease are generally disguised. Just as photographers see negative spaces and musicians hear rests, you must become sensitive to aspects of disease that may not be immediately apparent to most people. As a parent, you are in an ideal position to entertain a heightened awareness about what might be signs of a disorder in the making and to develop hunches about your observations. You may have heard of the several different kinds of eating attitude assessments, or diagnostic surveys, that could be administered to your child to determine the likelihood of disease. However, the results of such tests are difficult for parents to interpret accurately. The most accurate assessment will come from your own sensitive and knowledgeable observations of your child.

Exercise A:

Observing Your Child's Attitudes and Behaviors

Here are some characteristics that in combination with others may be indicators of disease. To begin assessing your child for these various kinds of attitudes and behaviors, consider each characteristic. Does it pertain to your child? Circle Y for yes, N for no.

1. Y/N Has undergone excessive or rapid loss of body weight.

2. Y/N Has a poor self-image.

3. Y/N Feels fat even when thin; describes fat as a feeling.

4. Y/N Displays quirky eating habits; eats a limited variety of foods or becomes a

vegetarian for purposes of food restriction.

5. Y/N Denies hunger.

6. Y/N Has lost her menses.

7. Y/N Exercises excessively.

8. Y/N Frequently weighs himself.

9. Y/N Has left indicators of laxative, diuretic, or diet pill abuse for you to find.

10. Y/N Dreams about food and eating.

11. Y/N Is reluctant to eat in front of others.

12. Y/N Uses the bathroom frequently during or following meals.

13. Y/N Compares his body to the bodies of others, such as models and athletes.

14. Y/N Is moodier and more irritable of late.

15. Y/N Lacks good coping skills; eats in response to emotional stressors.

16. Y/N Seeks to avoid risks; looks for safety and predictability as an alternative.

17. Y/N Fears not measuring up.

18. Y/N Distrusts himself and others.

19. Y/N Abhors the feeling of being full, which creates indescribable discomfort,

bloating and nausea, along with fear that the discomfort will never go away.

20. Y/N Hates big family dinners at holiday times; becomes terribly anxious and upset prior to and during the meal.

21. Y/N Thinks that because he joins you occasionally at restaurants, he must not be disordered.

22. Y/N Avoids substantive connections with others.

23. Y/N Believes his life would be better if he were thinner.

24. Y/N Is obsessed with his clothing size.

If a cluster of these symptoms applies to your child, there is a good chance that he may be struggling with an eating disorder or may soon be developing one.