Eating Disorder Facts

• Anorexia and bulimia are brain disorders – not chosen behaviors.
• Eating disorders are potentially deadly and disabling.
• You can fully recover from an eating disorder.
• Early and assertive intervention is critical.
• Most eating disorder symptoms are the result of malnutrition, and the first medicine for medical, emotional, and cognitive recovery is: food.
• Psychotherapy should not be done in the absence of weight restoration and normalized eating.
• Modern treatment professionals no longer assume an eating disorder patient has suffered grave trauma or lives in a dysfunctional home – families do not cause eating disorders.
• One cannot tell by looking at a person whether they are underweight or suffering from malnutrition. Healthy weight ranges are highly individual and best monitored by a physician familiar with family history, growth curve expectations, and behavioral symptoms.
• Children and teens with eating disorders often do not feel ill, do not ask for help, and may see the concern of others as criticism.
• Expressing a negative body image or a desire to lose weight is often the first recognizable symptom of an eating disorder and should be taken seriously.
• Logic, pleading, disapproval, anger, and shame are ineffective and counterproductive to helping patients recover.
• Athletes require more calories than less active people, and should not be encouraged to lose weight. Loss of menses is not normal and is a sign of hormonal insufficiency leading to bone loss and risk of future infertility.
• Families are the most important factor in supporting their child’s recovery.
• The only evidence-based treatment approach for children and adolescents is Family-Based Treatment (FBT).
• Schools and others who have ongoing contact with eating disorder patients can play a key role in helping the family find and use evidence-based resources.

Courtesy of www.feast-ed.org