These articles were first published in my complimentary monthly newsletter, "The Eating Disorder Survival Guide for Parents"™. It provides expert information on Eating Disorders, and practical tips for parents and their children. Subscribe below now.
Cris Haltom has a Ph.D. from Cornell University. She is a licensed psychologist in private practice in Ithaca, N. Y. Cris is an Approved Supervisor (#110) for the International Association of Eating Disorder Professionals. She is available for training, presentations, and workshops. She has published articles, co-edited a text book, appeared on cable television, taught workshops, and taught academic courses as adjunct faculty at Cornell University and other colleges.
As part of her psychotherapy practice, Cris works as part of a team with physicians and nutritionists to provide treatment children, adolescents, and adults with eating disorders.
The Eating Disorder Survival Guide for Parents(tm), published by Cris Haltom, Ph.D., is a FREE monthly newsletter intended for parents whose children are or have been in treatment with appropriate professionals for eating disorders. Related coaching, education and support groups for parents are intended for the same audience. The information presented is NEVER substitute for professional intervention. Further, tips and guidelines offered in newsletters and consultations may or may not apply to the individual circumstances of readers/ participants. Only a professional physician, certified mental health professional, and/or registered nutritionist can determine the best guidelines for each individual child and family.
By Dr. Cris Haltom
This article was kindly reviewed by Dr. Daniel Le Grange, Director of the Eating Disorders Program in the Dept. of Psychiatry, University of Chicago. (Read also Part 1 and Part 2.)
The Maudsley Approach offers parents an empowered way to play a pivotal, positive role in restoring an adolescent with anorexia or bulimia to health. Because eating disorders remain complex and stubbornly resistant to cure and short-term solutions the Maudsley Approach offers a promising, important, new, clinically-tested method for treatment of eating disorders appropriate for some young people and their families.
If you are not or will not be involved in the Maudsley Approach to treatment for your child with an eating disorder, there are many other viable treatment methods. Here are FIVE TIPS suggested by the Maudsley Approach which are useful for any method of treatment:
1. If your child is malnourished and you are in the early stages of treatment, it reasonable to assume your child will not have the COGNITIVE STABILITY to be able to understand the why's and wherefores of her or his eating disorder behavior. Insight into the disorder will improve with increased health.
2. Parents need to be an EMPOWERED part of treatment. The research shows family approaches to eating disorders are more effective than individual approaches. There are many ways parents can participate in treatment. Your treatment team members can assist you in finding an effective place.
3. Lock et al have found that parents and guardians who are frustrated and angry at their children for not getting well can become critical and hinder treatment. Do your best to avoid CRITICISM of your child's eating disorder behavior.
4. It is important that parents show their children that, despite their fears and vulnerabilities related to their children being sick, they can and will take constructive action to make sure their dependent children get PROFESSIONAL HELP for an eating disorder.
5. Many treatments for eating disorders speak of PHASES OF TREATMENT. It is reasonable to expect that all aspects of treatment for an eating disorder- medical, nutrition, psychotherapy and psychopharmacology-will move in phases. The phases will likely move from management of the most dangerous aspects of the disorder to making gradual changes in the child and her or his environment that are necessary for maintaining safety, health, and promoting normal adolescent development.
Eisler, I., Dare, C., Russell, G., Szmukler, G., Le Grange, D., Dodge, E. (1997) A five-year follow-up of a controlled trial of family therapy in severe eating disorders. Archives of General Psychiatry, 54, 1025- 1030.
Lock, J., Le Grange, D., Agras, W.S., Dare, C. (2001) Treatment Manual for Anorexia Nervosa: A Family-Based Approach. New York: The Guilford Press.
Russell, G.F.M., Szmukler, G.I., Dare, C., and Eisler, I. (1987) Archives of General Psychiatry, 44, 1047-1056.
