Advice on "helping" a person with an Eating Disorder??

[cyber-sibes]

I have a very good friend who has eating disorders like this. she was greatly helped by therapy and working a good 12-step program. She goes to "open meetings" of AA, where everyone is welcome. She adapts the word "alcoholic" to her own situation, but the principles are just as effective in helping her. She's been in recovery now for over 12 years. There are also support groups & literature specifically for eating disorders. Perhaps you could in touch with someone in such a group to find out more. She is lucky to have a caring friend like you, Staci!

[wolflady]

This is defintely a tough one to handle, especially if the person is in denial that they have an ED or simply don't want help. My parents and I swear that one of my older sisters had an ED, but everytime we tried to address it, she would get angry, defensive and ignore us. There really wasn't anything we could do, and there's not a whole lot you can do if the person doesn't want help. I think the first thing that needs to happen is the person with the ED needs to realize it and accept the fact they need help.

My sister is a psychologist, and I created a website for her here:
http://www.risscounseling.com/index.htm

She specializes in eating disorders (which oddly enough..she is the one that we suspected had one!), so if you want me to ask her anything just let me know. She has some links in the links section that may be useful.

**hugs**

[slleipnir]

I had someone really close to me almost die from it. She still struggles with it today, but she is doing better. She had to get a lot of therapy. It's really hard to deal with and know what to do...it's really hard to see someone you love waste away to nothing.