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Think My Daughter Has An Eating Disorder

My daughter is 27 years old and I am pretty sure she has an ED.

She is very thin and her eating is awful, She only eats one meal a day and then it's only a bagel. she looks at the calories on everything.

I took her to the doctor last year but she got very emotional whilst there, GP referred her for Counselling but she refuses to go.
She constantly says that she is fat.

I am worried sick about her.
 
This does seem like she might have an eating disorder, I agree. If she thinks she's fat when she's very skinny and doesn't eat much, it sounds scarily like anorexia. I hope she will take the counselling sessions because I'm positive they would be a help to her and whatever is causing her to feel this way. I wish you and your daughter all the best, it cannot be a good thing to experience!
 
I am so sorry to hear this. This must be so difficult for you. And fov everyone else.

There could be so many things going on. Like body dismorpia. Or trying to control one thing in her life. Or any other one.

And just telling her she is not fat does not help either. Maybe try talking about it but ever so gentle? Its a shame that if people dont want to do anything they dont. But for everyone involved I hope she does.
 
This is a very tricky issue to deal with. The person who has an ED has to acknowledge that they have it and most of the time they are in deep denial. Body dysmorphia is also a very powerful thing that controls the mind. You literally cannot see how thin you are. It's a condition that lies to you and it takes over your life.
I hope you can encourage your daughter to at least speak about her complex relationship with food. If she could start opening up about it then that would be a massive step forward.
I'm thinking of you and your daughter.
 
This is what makes it so difficult. When people around know it but she is in denial. Then it will be almost impossible to help. She has to see herself that there is something going wrong.
As I myself struggle with boulimia I know its not good. But when it happens I am only thinking hey this is totaly normal.

I hope it will improve soon.
 
My daughter is 27 years old and I am pretty sure she has an ED.

She is very thin and her eating is awful, She only eats one meal a day and then it's only a bagel. she looks at the calories on everything.

I took her to the doctor last year but she got very emotional whilst there, GP referred her for Counselling but she refuses to go.
She constantly says that she is fat.

I am worried sick about her.

I had an eating disorder when I was in high school and my daughter did as well but she had more trouble recovering than I did. She's fine now though!

One thing that helped her a lot was to have a therapist deal with ongoing issues in her life and relationships with others. The psychiatrist who specialized in eating disorders made things worse for my daughter by putting her into a category and treating her like she couldn't recover. She actually told my daughter she would be treating her for 6 years! My daughter recovered in 2 by seeing a therapist instead.

She also saw a dietician for a while and did some group therapy sessions but the main thing that helped her was the therapist one on one sessions.

Dealing with things that she couldn't "control" helped her to give up controlling her body so much and get rid of "Ed" who wasn't so loving about her as she first thought.
 
Please don't take this as a joke. But if someone is emotionally resisting food, try their favourite recipes from childhood. There are some dishes we get a home which we can never say no. Not only that we eat it with full heart but demand more. There may not be plenty of such options, but I believe for every person there is at least one or two.
 
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