While dieting and awareness of body image may be seen in the teenage years, it can increase the risk of an eating disorder if it gets out of control. While anorexia nervosa generally begins during pre-adolescent and adolescent years as a way of coping in response to the increasing stressors associated with growing up, no one chooses to have an eating disorder. Dieting may be a phase but it can become a serious problem when it gets out of control. Ignoring unhealthy eating patterns and waiting for anorexia nervosa to resolve spontaneously rarely results in recovery.
Parents are the most important resource for the successful treatment of eating disorders. Some things that parents can do to aid in the recovery of their child are:
Never give up and believe in full recovery.
Your loved ones cannot choose how they feel or think when they are ill. Eating disorders are known brain problems: not bad behavior or making poor choices. Your sympathy and confidence can help. Avoid arguments or discussing about eating disorder symptoms can be helpful and preserve your energy for the more important tasks of providing adequate nutrition.
Treatment for eating disorders can help with all the symptoms above. Not all patients experience all of them, and each person may have them to different degrees at different times.
Without re-establishing normal eating behaviours and restoring the body's nutritional status and adequate weight, patients cannot be expected to overcome these symptoms. Food is medicine.
Websites
These are good websites for individuals with ED as well as parents/carers:
Books to support carers:
Stay Healthy With
© 2025 SingHealth Group. All Rights Reserved.