Anorexia and Other Eating Disorders

Book excerpt: Parents are best placed to help their teenager or young child beat an eating disorder, yet most struggle to know what to do and how to do it. In Anorexia and Other Eating Disorders, Eva Musby draws on her family's successful use of evidence-based treatment to empower you to support your child through recovery. - Learn practical and effective mealtime skills - Help your child to eat well and be free of fears and compulsions - Know what to say and what not to say in highly charged situations - Recognise the treatments that work and the ones that don't - Develop your own emotional resources However difficult your situation, this book gives you the tools you need to care for your child, your family and yourself. Using compassionate presence, Nonviolent Communication, mindfulness and acceptance, Eva Musby plots out a path towards well-being. With a wealth of guidance and practical examples, Anorexia and Other Eating Disorders is an invaluable guide to coping with and overcoming an eating disorder in the family. "Finally! I have read anything and everything on anorexia and this is the most helpful by far" CONTENTS 1. How this book can help you 2. How does an eating disorder affect you and your child? 3. Your part in diagnosis 4. Treatment: the essentials 5. What parents need to know about the causes of eating disorders 6. Practical steps to help your child beat the eating disorder 7. How do you get your child to eat in spite of the eating disorder? 8. See the tools in action: mealtime scenarios 9. How to free your child of fears and rules: exposure therapy 10. The road to full recovery 11. Partners, friends, family and work: help or hindrance? 12. How to make treatment and therapy work for your child and for you 13. Powerful tools for well-being and compassionate connection 14. Love, no matter what: how to support your child with compassionate communication 15. How to build up your own resilience and well-being Appendix: Compassionate or Nonviolent Communication (NVC) Note: If you are dealing with an eating disorder other than anorexia, some of the practical tools might not apply to you. Most of the emotional ones will. "Your book is packed with helpful information for parents and has been brilliant for my patients and for our team."- Esther Blessitt, Senior Systemic Psychotherapist, writing on behalf of the Child and Adolescent Eating Disorders Service (CAMHS), Maudsley Hospital