My kid is back

Empowering Parents to Beat Anorexia Nervosa

By June Alexander in collaboration with Professor Daniel le Grange, University of Chicago

Melbourne University Publishing

• Reveals how family-based treatment empowers families, in whatever their form, to fight Anorexia Nervosa in children.

• Describes early warning signs of Anorexia Nervosa and provides strategies for knowing when and how to act, and where to seek help.

• Emphasises that Anorexia Nervosa, like cancer, can develop in any child, and symptoms need to be treated with a swift and supportive team response.

• Encourages parents to believe in themselves, and draw on the power of parental love, and the strength of the family unit, in beating the illness.

• Illustrates that mental recovery may continue long after a child has achieved a healthy weight restoration.

“My Kid Is Back … is primarily a book for families trying to deal with Anorexia Nervosa. It is equally a book for clinicians and researchers who want to understand what it is like for the families. It is a remarkable book because it gives a voice to the families themselves, showing the different journeys they went through regarding both the developing anorexia and in re-establishing themselves and helping their child to recover”.

- Doctor Ivan Eisler, King’s College, London. Dr Eisler is also the head of the Child and Adolescent Eating Disorder Service at the Maudsley Hospital in London.

Summary

My Kid Is Back tells how families help overcome Anorexia Nervosa with the power of love. More than 125 years since it was first defined, Anorexia Nervosa continues to be frequently misdiagnosed, under-estimated and misunderstood. The eating disorder, characterized by an intense fear of weight gain, has the highest death rate of any psychiatric illness. My Is Kid Back offers hope to sufferers and their families by describing a family-based treatment, widely known as the Maudsley Approach, which through empowering parents is producing promising evidence-based results.  The key is the power of the family.

Early intervention with family-based treatment can greatly reduce the severity of Anorexia Nervosa in children and adolescents. Best outcome is for those whose illness is intervened within six months.

My collaborator, Professor Daniel le Grange, director of the Eating Disorders Program at the University of Chicago explains it this way:

If I were a dentist and noticed a tiny cavity in a child’s tooth, would I tell the parent to take the child away and return in six months? No, I would deal with it immediately and you would expect me to do so. I would clean and fill the cavity to prevent it becoming more of a problem, perhaps requiring a root canal.

If a parent comes to me concerned that their child has lost 3 kilograms, I must take this seriously also. It is not normal for any child or teenager to suddenly lose weight, yet some health practitioners routinely tell worried parents, ‘This is a phase. Come back in six months’. Usually, six months later, the illness is six months worse. A loss of weight is a sign that something’s not right and needs to be checked immediately.

Ten families are the voice of My Kid Is Back. These families invited me into their lives because they want to raise awareness and ease the suffering of others. Together they lift the lid on what living with Anorexia Nervosa is really like. The parents describe their disbelief in discovering their child is developing the illness, their frustration in searching for the right help, the difficult times in challenging the illness and the joy of watching their child ‘come back’. The sufferers describe their experiences with this illness that slips into the brain and becomes part of one’s self. The siblings share their experiences too. Anorexia Nervosa affects every member of the family – parents, brothers, sisters and grandparents.  Each family believes prompt recognition and intervention with family-based treatment helped to speed recovery.

Family-based treatment offers hope to many by bringing back fundamental family principles - empowering parents and supporting them and their children in their growth and development.

In an introductory chapter, Professor le Grange describes the history of Anorexia Nervosa, its effect on the sufferer and the family, the development of the Maudsley Approach in London, and ongoing research. The 10 families then proceed tell their stories. My Kid Is Back concludes with chapters describing symptoms of Anorexia Nervosa, strategies for parents and carers to follow, and where to go for treatment and support. Therapists involved in the case studies offer insights. This book will appeal to all families who find themselves caught up in the Anorexic Nervosa nightmare.