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Meggs M
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Posts: 8
(3/1/04 2:58 pm)
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Guidelines for family and friends
Treating the person with an eating disorder like a child doesn’t work. Parents do not deny your daughter or son some parental guidance, but at the same time remember that he/she has many adult abilities, which need to be developed.
Try not to make comments on how the person looks. Saying things such as: "You're looking far too thin." or, "You're looking good!" encourages body image obsessions. Instead, focus on other areas of the person's life and their strengths as much as possible.
Do not allow the dysfunctional behavior to be overlooked, otherwise, you are rewarding it.
You need to increase the person's responsibility for his/her behavior. If necessary describe the behavior you are seeing, try to separate the behavior from the person. State your observations.
If a person is binge eating, offer to discuss with the person how you could help him/her. For example: Perhaps they may want you to remove binge foods from obvious places to discourage binge eating.
Scare tactics do not work and should not be used.
Give the person time to improve unless you suspect that his/her life is in danger. Negotiate a plan that may include certain behaviors such as eating regularly or decreasing purging. If the verbal contract is broken, seek professional help.
If a person appears to be showing signs of extreme physical problems yet refuses help, a decision needs to be made by the parents and professionals to determine if treatment is necessary and how to initiate it.


www.hopenetwork.info/how_to_help.html

Luv & Hugs
Meggs
xxx
Meggs M
Admin/Moderator
Posts: 16
(1/3/04 3:22 pm)
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Re: Guidelines for family and friends

AVOID

Discussing weight, calorie content of food, eating habits or exercise. Try instead to talk about other things of mutual interest.
Discussing the person's appearance. Comments about weight gain could be seen as failure and those about weight loss could be seen as a complaint. Allow that person to take control of their eating behavior without monitoring from you.
Criticizing your own or other's appearance. Try to model self-acceptance and don't succumb to unrealistic societal images.

Luv & Hugs
Meggs
xxx
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