Parent's Role

The more time I spend researching anorexia, the more I see stories or information directed toward the patient. So where does the family come in, and why is there so little information out there about how the anorexia of a loved one can affect an entire family unit? After endless hours on the Internet, I finally came across an article with far more than a paragraph of information regarding this topic. The authors of, Impact of eating disorders on family life: individual parents’ stories, say that “eating disorders have a profound effect on families in western societies but this has not been well-documented in the literature. Current literature is often written from the perspective of sufferers and their therapists, with very little mention about parents or families. The focus on parents is mostly negative and concentrates on their role in the underlying causation of the illness.”

If you think about all the information we read or hear about anorexia, families are often only considered when determining the cause of the patients illness. Are the parents anorexic too? Is the family dysfunctional? Does the parent-child relationship effect the child’s desire to eat? There are so many negative questions you can ask a family, but what about asking how the anorexia has affected the family instead of the patient? Has it made them depressed, regretful, or feel like they have done a horrible job as a parent? These are the questions I would like to know. To play the devils advocate, I must say that all the anorexic patients I have seen have directly resulted from some dysfunction in their family unit, but I have to assure myself that there are some families among the innocent.

I have read that many families play a vital role in the treatment of the patient. It is only when parents are excluded from the treatment process when they are put in a negative light, which then transfers to literature and the media. The negative light families are put under only adds to the, “concern, despair, frustration, anger, confusion, and guilt” they already feel. So why is it that we must ostracize them in a way that only makes it harder for everyone? Also, regardless of what role the families played in the patient’s life, wouldn’t it be easier to overcome such a challenge in the presence of those you had always known? Although each case is individual, I would believe the majority of patients would wish for their families to be present, as they have always and undoubtedly been some sort of support system. Whether that be positive or negative seems to be irrelevant, because the patient, in most cases, will always listen to the advice given by their parents. In any war, a battle is always won not with a single person, but with a group of people.

Citations

Hillege, Sharon. Beale, Barbara. McMaster, Rose. Impact of eating disorders on family life: individual parents’ stories. 28. June. 2005. Mental Health pages 1-3