Your child has an eating disorder? No doubt the thought of it is shocking and confusing. What we know about eating disorders prior to the teen years is not discussed much. Thus, your journey through your child's symptoms and a diagnosis has likely been an education.
If you feel alarmed, afraid, and confused, please know that you are not the only parent feeling this way.
The thought that such a serious and chronic condition is harming your child's development and future is deeply upsetting. It is vital you get the support you need. It is crucial that you are able to secure the type of attention and treatment necessary to address disordered eating.
Treating the causes and concerns unique to your child can ensure that recovery is appropriate, comprehensive, and complete. The most important thing now? To understand the importance of choosing child-centered care and taking decisive action. Eating disorders don't just go away. To do proceed optimally, let's get a clear picture of the differences between eating disorder treatment for children and treatment for adults.
Pediatric Eating Disorder Treatment Is Not A Carbon Copy of Adolescent Treatment
Eating disorder treatment for children is most effective when delivered early as possible. Prompt care is for best recovery and a return to growth and maturation.
Traditionally, eating disorder interventions were modified versions of teenage models. However, pediatric treatment for eating disorders should not imitate adolescent programming. Children experience life and people much differently than teens and adults. It is important to understand that eating disorders are both medical and mental health conditions. Your child is not likely to grow out of it or recover without significant guidance. They need treatment meant for them.
Here are a few unique components to pediatric treatment:
Key Differences in Eating Disorder Treatment for Children
Where Your Child Needs to Be
Older teens and adults can better tolerate care away from home. In the case of your child, the following are usually more effective
Inpatient care is usually reserved for children whose growth and nutritional needs are highly compromised.
Partial hospitalization works best for children who require daily, supervised meals. However, your child may not do well to sleep away from home. Thus, your child takes part in programming during the day and goes home at night to rest.
Intensive outpatient care works best when your child is equipped to go back to school, eat family meals with you and receive support from loved ones at home.
Who Your Child Needs to Be Involved
You: Parental involvement is vital to your child's healing. To help your child, the skills and type of supervision you'll need to learn, practice, and provide are different than you might give a teen. Unlike adolescent patients, children have less success developing the new necessary skills to support recovery on their own. Your cooperation and adherence to treatment plans are invaluable. Family-based treatment will also accompany parent-child work as well.
Pediatric provider team: Because children's minds and bodies are so vulnerable to quick deterioration, it is extremely important to work with capable pediatric specialists. Collaborating with child-friendly medical doctors and nutritionists helps maintain the balance needed to support eating disorder therapy.
Schools collaborators: School is an integral part of your child's life for years to come. Developing your child’s support system at school is crucial for lasting recovery. An ongoing relationship with teachers, counselors, coaches, and administrators is necessary.
How Your Child Needs to Be Supported
You and your child can benefit from various approaches:
Individual therapy for your child is very different for a child than for a teen or adult. Older people are used to accessing their own thoughts and identifying various emotions. To help children address their behavior stressors, and body perception, and co-existing anxiety and depression, children are benefitted from a qualified therapist. Someone who can help your child learn to notice and influence their thoughts and emotions helps immensely. Particularly since children tend to have a more limited vocabulary and may need more body-centered therapy support.
Expressive and dramatic play can help your child find their voice and process in ways that make them comfortable.
Sand play or body tracing activities can help children who are less verbal work through body image issues.
Family therapy helps your child and family members see that these challenges are whole family challenges. Your child is not "the problem child" but a member in need of support. This type of therapy is similar to adult care in that it helps make mealtime feel better and provides improved communication tools.
However, child-oriented care considers the way children must be guided when setting goals and making plans. Parent education and participation, are key to making changes last.
Meal education is often part of family therapy too. Children don't prepare their own food, thus it helps to learn how to prepare and talk about food without triggering your child.
Group therapy affords your child and your family time with like-minded people who "get" your situation. This connection can be extremely meaningful for fostering safe community connections.
Take the first step now
Your child is not choosing their eating disorder. Their struggles are not a phase or a situation that you can hope will fade away. Now is the time to help them and fight for their future. You can get through this.
The tools are available to overcome this disorder. The support you need is here. Allow us to be part of the team that helps your child reclaim a healthy mind-body connection. Please read more about eating disorder treatment and contact us soon for therapy.
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