Eating Recovery Center In the News: EverydayHealth.com
“Are Parents to Blame for Their Children with Eating Disorders?”
The most recent installment of Julie Holland’s EverydayHealth.com blog addresses this key question. Recognizing that many parents of children with eating disorders wonder about their role in the development of the illness, Julie welcomes insights from Brittany Lacour, LCSW, DAACS, primary therapist at Eating Recovery Center. In the article, Brittany offers suggestions to help families, eating disorders professionals and children and adolescents understand that while it’s natural to look for a “cause,” parents are not to blame for an eating disorder. Read an excerpt of the article below, or click here to view it in its entirety.
Parents help us, teach us, raise us and are integral in forming the person we grow to become. There’s no doubt that children take on a piece of their parents personalities and behaviors when they grow up and take an active role in the world. But how does that translate when a child develops a serious illness or mental health issue? Is it his or her parents’ fault?
Eating disorders leave individuals and families faced with a complex illness that offers little room for logic or reason. The severity of the illness, combined with uncertainty of its origin leaves many of us wondering, “Who’s to blame?” This question becomes especially important when treating children with eating disorders, such as anorexia or bulimia. Are parents to blame for their child’s disordered eating behaviors?
Although eating disorders are in fact genetic, that doesn’t mean parents are responsible.
Brittany Lacour, LCSW, DAACS, primary therapist at Eating Recovery Center, explains that as humans we look for cause and effect—it’s natural. However, when it comes to an illness, especially a multifaceted illness with genetic, psychological and social roots, this can lead to finger pointing. Often we try to control what’s scary to us; and having a radically ill child or partner is petrifying. If it’s our fault, we then carry the faulty belief that we can “fix” it.
