Meals Don’t Have To Be Painful
Eating Disorder Treatment for Teens and Families in North Carolina
Teens and Eating Disorders…
There has arguably never been a harder time to hold on to your self worth as a teenager. What we want the parents of teenagers to know is that everything your kid does that concerns you, drives you crazy, or keeps you up at night is them trying to find their way in this incredibly stressful world.
Common Signs of Eating Disorders in Teens for Parents
If your kid isn’t eating and you’re watching them dwindle into a shell of themselves and you’re so sick of having this argument again and again about how they need to eat-- then know that you and your kid need backup and that it’s available.
If your kid is eating too much and you see their self-consciousness, their shame, and you’re wondering why they don’t just stop-- please know they would if they knew how. They don’t know how. And, as a pro tip, external controls on their food choices are likely to backfire.
If your kid is purging and this behavior is so out of left field to you and honestly kind of scary, know that it is serving a purpose for your child. They need to know how to get that need met in a non-destructive way in order to stop.
What You Should Know About Eating Disorders and Teens
If your child is using eating disordered behaviors, know that your child is using food to try to handle feelings or experiences or a deep, painful sense of “not-enoughness.” They aren’t trying to punish you (though it can certainly feel like it sometimes), they are unlikely to have a deathwish (that’s an old myth from before eating disorders were well understood), and it’s not your fault. It’s really and truly not your fault even if you did things you now realize were harmful. Even if you engaged in disordered eating or eating disorder behavior. Even if you wonder if you were too hard on them. It’s not even your fault if you commented on their weight or size. In short, it is not your fault your kid has turned to disordered eating. But there are incredibly impactful things you can do to help them recover. Starting with counseling for eating disorders in North Carolina.
We want you to know that if your child comes to us to recover from an eating disorder, you will be an integral part of their recovery. Depending on how their eating disorder presents, that may mean occasional parent coaching so you can support them in impactful ways (and stop doing things you may not realize are causing harm) or it may mean that every session involves the whole family.
How we can help Eating Disorders in Teens
Elaine assesses whether individual therapy with parent coaching or Family Based Treatment for Eating Disorders (FBT) is going to be most appropriate in the initial appointment this is what we view as an integrative eating disorder treatment approach.
Our goal for your child is that their work with us creates lifelong change. The kind of change that inspires hard-won confidence and a lasting comfort with food and body. We want everyone feeling excited and safe when they leave for college, including the parents. I mean, you’ll feel nervous, but we don’t want you to feel worried about their recovery.
Eating Disorder Treatment Can Help Your Teen & Family
The majority of people with eating disorders reach full recovery. This is different from how we traditionally think of addiction and being ‘in recovery” forever. Full recovery from an eating disorder means not feeling guilty when they eat, not obsessing over body shape and size, not feeling a strong urge to restrict, binge, or purge. After so many years of helping people through eating disorder recovery, we’re convinced that a recovered person has a much healthier relationship with food and body than the average person who never had an eating disorder.
The research shows that getting help in the teen years leads to a much shorter period of time in treatment than in adulthood. It’s literally years and years of less damage to their bodies and years less suffering.
The fact that you’re considering eating disorder treatment for your child shows that you’re concerned. At the Asheville Eating Disorder Center, we offer online therapy in North Carolina for those searching for help from the comfort of their own space. Our therapists are eating disorder specialists and can help families by treating bulimia, anorexia nervosa, ARFID, binge eating or other eating disorders.
Even if it’s just a hunch that something’s off, we strongly urge you to seek help sooner rather than later. You can get in touch with us at 828-333-3654.
Teen counseling for eating disorders in north carolina
If you’re noticing changes in your teen and believe an eating disorder therapist could help, you’ve come to the right place. Through therapy, you can begin to stop the suffering. Our online North Carolina counseling practice includes empathetic therapists Elaine and Allison who specialize in disordered eating. To start your counseling journey, whether in our Asheville office or online anywhere in North Carolina, follow these simple steps:
Let’s begin developing healthier ways to cope with eating!
OTHER MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES AT ASHEVILLE EATING DISORDER TREATMENT CENTER
Our Asheville, North Carolina based counseling practice specializes in helping teens and adults who struggle with eating disorders and anxiety. Through counseling, we help teenagers and adults with eating disorders overcome the shame and guilt, find peace with their body and develop healthy relationships with food. Additionally, we offer other mental health services, primarily for perfectionists, overachievers or others who don’t feel 100% comfortable in their skin. More specifically we offer anxiety treatment for teens, and anxiety treatment for adults at the Asheville Eating Disorder Treatment Center. If you don’t live around Asheville or the commute makes in-person counseling impossible, all of our services are available via online therapy. to anyone physically located in North Carolina. Therefore, we work with clients from Raleigh to Charlotte or even Jacksonville. You deserve to finally feel less and more overwhelmed, so let’s get started!