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“Part of our treatment program includes Family Week and this occurs mid-way through a patient’s stay at Remuda,” said Amy Wasserbauer Ph.D., assistant clinical director at Remuda Programs for Eating Disorders. “Families are very much a part of the puzzle of eating disorders. There are biological, psychological, cultural, and family reasons why a person has an eating disorder.”
Some of the common characteristics of the families that Remuda treats include:
— Distant fathers
— Chaotic families or families with substance abuse problems
— Mother’s high expectations for daughter and/or demanding parents
— Parents who openly foster sibling rivalries
— Over-controlling or domineering parents
— Father’s depression, rigidity, or excessive self-discipline
— Marital conflict
— Parents’ sexual relationship problems
— High levels of parent-daughter stress and family tension
— Fathers who are chronically ill
“Another common thread we see are family members who are disconnected from their own feelings and become emotionally distant from others,” said Wasserbauer. “Many families come to Family Week disillusioned because they feel they’re a close family, but when they begin to understand that their loved one with the eating disorder never experienced validation for her feelings, felt unimportant because they never listened to her needs, they begin to see that although they did a lot of activities together, they weren’t connected emotionally.”
Family members often come to treatment with fear, carrying their own shame and guilt about why their loved one is struggling. Family Week challenges families to stop pretending, to get honest, and learn to be accepted for their failures and humanness.
Research shows that positive family support can open the door for healing. If a patient doesn’t have the family’s support, it’s much easier for her to relapse in the future.
“The most important thing a family can do is listen to one another, validate emotions and be careful not to judge,” adds Wasserbauer. “This often means they need to make time during the week to be together without distractions like cell phones and the TV, so they can really hear each other.”
About Remuda Programs for Eating Disorders
Remuda Programs for Eating Disorders offers Christian inpatient and residential treatment for women and girls of all faiths suffering from an eating disorder. Each patient is treated by a multi-disciplinary team including a Psychiatric and a Primary Care Provider, Registered Dietitian, Masters Level therapist, Psychologist and Registered Nurse. The professional staff equips each patient with the right tools to live a healthy, productive life. For more information, call 1-800-445-1900 or visit http://www.remudaranch.com.
Remuda Programs for Eating Disorders / PRNewswire
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This is great information. It’s no secret that families can play a large part in causing an eating disorder, but I think what people tend to overlook is that families can play an equally large part in the healing process.
I worked with a young woman once who had an eating disorder. It turned out that her sister and mother also had the same problem. So it can swing several ways; family members having the same disorder or refusing to reconize a disorder or not knowing where to turn for assitance. Very good article.
It is really a shame that we are so impacted by our first experiences with the world.
All families have problems that filter reality for their young, but eating disorders seem to be especially vicious in their affects.
Hopefully, articles like this will open parents’ eyes to what affects they may be having on the younger family members, and modify the emotional environment
, creating a more supportive frame work for reasonable expectations and good mental hygiene.
My friend suffers from an eating disorder and we were just talking about an article that she had where a lot of treatment centers are now including the family more in the process of the recovery.
Tater, that sounds great. I think that it’s a great idea to start including the family in the recovery process, because I believe that’s how problems can actually get solved. A support system is always a plus.
Oh I so agree with this. I see so many kids who get their relationship to food all messed up because their parents just want them to eat something – anything.
Teaching a child how to make the right food choices should be just as important as teaching a child how to walk and ride a bike.
Something that strikes me about the list of circumstances that can create eating problems, are the extremes in behavior.
I wonder if the sessions involving other family members work towards creating some better stress control mechanisms to bring the intensity, thus muting those extremes, into a more humane range.
I seems that parents being a bit more relaxed about child rearing could alleviate some of the problems.
Growing up we had a neighborhood family where the mother and her daughters all had eating disorders. They are all well now, but it was sad at the time.
Calypso, that’s true!
Family members should also be the first ones to notice that there is a problem and act on it.
Travelforever, I used to own a modeling agency once upon a time and it I took some models to a modeling convention.
And there was this girl was pure skin and bones sucking on a lollipop. I thought she was really sick looking until I saw her mother.
SageMother, sometimes family wants the best for their children.
I know my husband has always had a weight problem and we have had this talk before about making sure our kids do not have the same problem he has. If he didn’t have me as part of his new family, I’m sure he would take this to the extreme.
I’ve heard a lot of good things about Remuda Ranch and how it helps a lot of people. I think that the family getting involved is very important.
I know a gal who went there without support and all she did was to plan to go back to the same eating disorder after she was able to leave there, so support is vital.
Tater03, good for her. I hope things are working out for her.
Having an eating disorder problem is very hard to go through alone.
Jewel, I also find it super fantastic that families want to get involved in the healing process.
MrsH, exactly how I got my eating habits really mixed up.
My father grew up really poor in a third world country and he made sure that we finished every single morsel of food on our table even if were full.
So, up until today, I have to limit myself to kiddie meals because I will eat everything unconsciously.
SageMother, teenagers nowadays face so much pressure, not just at home but also at school and their peer groups.
I think the problem that most parents encounter is that they try to be too understanding and that is why problems such as anorexia are not noticed until a later stage.
EviesEarth, we all have our concept of what is beautiful and what isn’t.
It is just unfortunate that other concepts tend to be on the unhealthy side. I’m sure that the family alone are not the only ones affected by anorexia, but the friends of the children as well.