Joanna,
I am a parent whose daughter developed restrictive-AN beginning at age 9 and who has reached recovery after two years. I understand that you deal with adults, many of whom are not anorexic, but who may have food issues such as bulimia, over-eating, etc. You yourself are a recovered bulimic, to which I say congratulations on the hard work it must have been!
Seeing my young daughter fall into the pit of anorexia after suffering strep throat and then learning of the direct connection between strep and brain diseases such as anorexia, OCD, tics and anxiety, I think I see eating disorders more from the biological side. My daughter is in a loving, very balanced family. Our young son does not suffer from an eating disorder and yet is living in the same family. There are genetic and biological brain changes that are a major part of eating disorders, just as there are for autism and schizophrenia. Do family dynamics trigger an eating disorder? Probably in some cases, yes. But as Bob points out, there really is no one known trigger for eating disorders and how temperament and genetics interact is a key component that needs to be acknowledged. It is complicated, scary, and confounding, but we need to be open to the fact that even the experts do not know the absolute cause of eating disorders. I think having an open mind to all possibilities, without placing blame, is the best place to start helping sufferers recover.
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Joanna,
I am a parent whose daughter developed restrictive-AN beginning at age 9 and who has reached recovery after two years. I understand that you deal with adults, many of whom are not anorexic, but who may have food issues such as bulimia, over-eating, etc. You yourself are a recovered bulimic, to which I say congratulations on the hard work it must have been!
Seeing my young daughter fall into the pit of anorexia after suffering strep throat and then learning of the direct connection between strep and brain diseases such as anorexia, OCD, tics and anxiety, I think I see eating disorders more from the biological side. My daughter is in a loving, very balanced family. Our young son does not suffer from an eating disorder and yet is living in the same family. There are genetic and biological brain changes that are a major part of eating disorders, just as there are for autism and schizophrenia. Do family dynamics trigger an eating disorder? Probably in some cases, yes. But as Bob points out, there really is no one known trigger for eating disorders and how temperament and genetics interact is a key component that needs to be acknowledged. It is complicated, scary, and confounding, but we need to be open to the fact that even the experts do not know the absolute cause of eating disorders. I think having an open mind to all possibilities, without placing blame, is the best place to start helping sufferers recover.
June 6, 2009 - 7:02pmThis Comment
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