What to expect:

Sessions may be varied and you can discuss with your clinician who they will include.  In some approaches parents can come without their child or loved one in order to get support for themselves.

To start with, clinicians will work on building a relationship with you and understanding what has been going on.  It may also be helpful to know about the family history. 

Family therapy involves:

• Thinking about ways families can help the unwell person to get better – through education and sharing of strategies.

• Externalising the illness so we can think about how it is affecting the person who is unwell, and separating themselves from it so parents and carers can join together to fight it.

• Increasing parent/carer confidence in being able to manage the illness and support their loved one.

• Empowering and supporting parents or carers to help manage eating and decision making.

• Working with families to promote independence when appropriate.

• Preparing for the end of your treatment and showing you how to cope at times when you are finding it hard to stick to your new eating habits (this is called relapse prevention)

• Making sure you know how you can get support if you need it after your treatment finishes.

Studies have demonstrated that when parents are encouraged to take charge of the adolescent’s eating it is effective in bringing about change both in eating disorder symptoms and psychologically. Further to this research shows us that when there is no involvement recovery appears to be considerably slower. 

There is no doubt that carers of an individual with an eating disorder experience high levels of distress, particularly associated with perceived lack of support and resources and the difficulties in the caring role. Family therapy can help with this.  Having a safe space to have difficult conversations can mean that they don’t have to happen at more difficult times, and it can be easier to have discussions with another person present who can help offer a different perspective.

Emotion Focused Family Therapy:

This specific type of family therapy has a strong evidence base with eating disorders.  The approach is rooted in the deep belief of the healing power of parents and family.  Clinicians only ever see family members and not the individual struggling with an Eating Disorder.  This is because we feel sure that the best person to support someone in their recovery, and the one that the sufferer wants the most, is their parent.  We teach parents techniques to support sufferers to identify and soothe their emotions so they no longer need the eating disorder to do this, and also give them the tools to heal old wounds.  This approach is particularly useful when there has been a breakdown in the relationship between parent or child, or painful moments that are difficult to discuss and may be contributing to the maintenance of the eating disorder.

More information can be found here:

Emotion-Focused Family Therapy - Based on the healing power of ...