Shandon Therapy Centre

Individuals and Families living with Eating Distress in Cork

	Mission Statement
	What is Eating Distress?
	Recovery
	Family and eating distress

Family and Eating Distress

Summary:

A diagnosis of eating distress is an occasion of trauma, pain and despair for individuals and their families.
Family members, relatives and friends are also casualties of Eating Distress.
Developing eating distress is not the fault of the person. It is not the fault of the family.
Educating themselves about eating distress is the first major step families can take in assisting and supporting the person with eating distress.
Positive participation by the family is vital to the treatment process.
Recovery from eating distress is a family journey that takes patience, compassion and commitment.
A willingness to listen, learn and develop new patterns of family interaction underpins the road to recovery.
Family therapy plays an integral role in the therapeutic process toward recovery.

Introduction

In every society the “family” was and is the elemental heartbeat and primary relationship that nurtures the growth and development of all human beings. It is under the umbrella of the family that we take our first steps in outlining our self image and role, initially, in relation to family members and, later, in relation to society at large.

Eating distress is a complex condition and is a wake-up call for the entire family because it affects the family as a whole. Siblings are often overlooked as parental concerns zoom in on the behaviour of the child with eating distress. With the cumulative strain, stress and worry, family communication can go awry and relationships break down. In consequence the family is crucial to the recovery process and parents are important members of the therapeutic team.

The family in the therapeutic process

The first step for the family is educational. There are many misconceptions about eating distress and many fallacies about treatment and recovery. For example a common reaction is trying to control the person’s eating behaviour which only aggravates the condition, escalates conflict and masks the underlying issues.

Eating distress is nobody’s fault and nobody is to blame. And all those destructive and hurtful emotions of accusation dread and guilt, which track the family and the person with eating distress, only cause further damage to everyone and hinder recovery.

Eating distress is not a food problem; nor is it solely the person’s problem. Eating distress is often a call for change: a change in family values, family patterns or family relationships. And it is these changes that family members have the power to make. This is the vital contribution in the therapeutic process that family members can offer.

Recovery from eating distress is a family journey. While recovery can be a very lengthy, contradictory and painful process, the family who persist in offering positive support by participating in the therapeutic process are providing the best opportunity for a full recovery. Statistics show that a positive outcome is much faster achieved when the whole family is willing to be involved. Parents often have more influence than they are aware of and no professional can substitute for a parent. Eating distress is an opportunity for the whole family to readjust, refocus and renew their foremost, fundamental and primal relationships.

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