Finding family based therapy for eating disorders can be a scary task that can feel overwhelming. It usually starts with admitting to a great fear and sharing a very vulnerable part of your life with a possible stranger. Accepting the idea that your child may have an eating disorder and reaching out for help are the first steps in your child’s eating disorder recovery. This blog post talks about what steps you can take if you believe your child may have an eating disorder but your child’s doctor does not.
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Most publicly-funded eating disorder treatment programs need a referral from a doctor, family physician or paediatrician to be accepted into the program and start treatment. Once your child is accepted into these programs, they can be properly assessed and get the treatment and monitoring they need for recovery from a team of specialized healthcare members, such as dietitian nutrition therapists. But what should you do when a well-respected expert, such as your family doctor, doesn’t believe that your child has an eating disorder?
You Know Your Child Best
First and foremost, remember that your concerns are valid. Helping your child take back their life from their eating disorder is important. Eating disorders affect at least 9% of people across the world – they are among some of the most dangerous mental health issues. You should always seek professional help for your child if you are concerned that they may have an eating disorder.
You know your child best and may be able to identify concerning behaviours before your child “meets the criteria” for a formally diagnosed eating disorder. At Change Creates Change Eating Disorder Care, we encourage parents to go with their gut feeling and urge parents to have their child assessed by a specialist if they feel like their child may be showing symptoms of developing an eating disorder. Unfortunately, the journey to having a specialist assess your child for an eating disorder can sometimes be challenging.
When you seek help for your child, you may be told that your child “does not look like they have an eating disorder” which can feel frustrating. Not only is this comment insensitive and dismissive, but it implies that people living with an eating disorder have to look a certain way – which is not true.
In reality, less than 6% of people living with eating disorders are medically diagnosed as underweight. This means that most people living with eating disorders do not typically fit into the stereotypical very thin image that the world has associated with eating disorders. Because of this assumption, people in larger bodies are half as likely to be diagnosed with an eating disorder compared to those who are of “normal weight” or “underweight”. This can feel like a roadblock to getting the help your family needs – but recovery is possible.
In reality, less than 6% of people living with eating disorders are medically diagnosed as underweight.
Helping Your Child Beat Their Eating Disorder
It may feel upsetting to hear a trusted healthcare professional, such as your doctor, disregard your concern. It is important to understand that this reaction from the healthcare professional is usually the result of a lack of education regarding eating disorders. Unfortunately, this education gap leads to people being misdiagnosed.
General doctors, such as family doctors, may only have a few hours of eating disorder education during their training and career. A small survey of 236 family doctors in London, Ontario found that over half of them rated their undergraduate and postgraduate training in eating disorders as being poor. This is why it is good to get the opinion of a healthcare professional who specializes in medical care for children and/or eating disorders. This could include a pediatrician, a registered dietitian nutritionist, a psychologist, or a psychotherapist who works with eating disorder recovery for children.
If your family doctor does not believe your child has an eating disorder despite your concerns, we strongly encourage you to get a second professional opinion. Try to ask your doctor for a referral for a pediatrician if they refuse to assess your child themselves. If they are still reluctant, you can try directly speaking with a registered dietitian or psychologist who is more knowledgeable about eating disorder therapy for kids. Other possible options could include going to a neighbourhood walk-in clinic or the emergency department at your local hospital to get a referral for eating disorder treatment.
Support for Parents of Child with Eating Disorder
Our team of registered dietitian nutritionists and therapists at Change Creates Change Eating Disorder Care are strong believers that parents should be heard and connected to the resources they need to help with their child’s eating disorder recovery. We want to help you get unstuck and feel empowered to support your child take back their life from their eating disorder. We recognize that family doctors are not always educated in eating disorders which is why we help parents advocate for their child and conduct thorough nutrition assessments. These assessments can help to fill in knowledge gaps.
Change Creates Change Eating Disorder Care specializes in nutrition therapy for children with eating disorders and supporting parents of children with eating disorders. If you feel that you need help with getting the support that you need, we are here for you. If you would like to learn more about how we can support you and your child, you can book a free 15-minute consultation call with us.
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