Teen DD with startings of anorexia?

[Gigglebiscuit]

Today it has all come flooding out. Lots of tears.

My beautiful, funny, confident DD has admitted she has been restricting food (I had suspicions) because she hates herself and her weight. She's also been self harming.

She's not (yet) losing weight, but hasn't put on after losing some with covid a couple of months ago.

She looks generally well, but has been a bit tired and pale.

How do I handle this? Do I take scales away? Remove all blades? Or will that just trigger worse? Stop her using social media, where it seems she is getting unrealistic ideas about thigh gaps, etc? Will a go be interested in her if she isn't particularly underweight? And isn't currently losing?

How do I handle this without making it worse?

Contact your GP but don't hold your breath for any help. If you can afford it go private for therapy/counselling. Look online for any groups supporting parents of kids with eating disorders, Inusually find other parents dealing with the same issues are the best source of advice. Good luck.

As someone who used to suffer from anorexia. It has to come from within (change), only the person who’s suffering from in it can help themselves. I’d avoid camhs as they were as useful as a chocolate microwave, if you can pay privately for therapy etc

Hi I'm so sorry your having to watch your dd go through this. I have a relative who went through this some years ago and quite drastically to be honest. Social media has so much to answer for and it's hard for a child to know what's real and what isn't...to them it's a 'perfect' body which they'll do anything to achieve. Does she have friends who are dieting or anything like that? Firstly I would sit her down and tell her you'll support her in anyway you can but she needs help from the gp and want to help herself so you can set a plan to help her because it needs to be nipped in the bud sooner rather than later. I wouldn't take her phone or anything as she may see this as punishment and do it all the more. I would take away sharps, monitor her during eating and contact the gp for help especially for the self harm. My relative went to CAHMS and did a diet plan as she did lose alot of weight in such a short space of time. The diet plan gave her some control over her eating instead of forcing her to eat along with counselling sessions. It took a long time to recover but now she's healthy. It's important to also make her aware of the risks involved with anorexia and what it can do if she doesn't get help. It took my relative a long time to get help and it wasn't until her friend was hospitalised and fed through a drip she suddenly snapped and fought it herself. Anorexia is a mental illness and will not go away on its own so please do seek help. Big hugs to you I really hope you both get the support you need.

Hi @Gigglebiscuit - am sorry to read your post. You'd be very welcome to join us on the Teens with Eating Disorders threads (we're on thread 5 now which shows a) how much of an issue it is facing our young people and b) how much support we try to give each other. The first post on the thread (i think) gives a list of resources that could be useful

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/eating_disorders/4360801-Teen-Eating-Disorders-Thread-5?msgid=113325194

I think the core issue is why she hates herself- the eating and harming probably aren't coming from nowhere- is she having social issues at school?
Anorexia is not primarily an issue with body image, it's an expression of anxiety and a form of compulsive behaviour. Somewhere will be something apparently unrelated that is feeding her anxious mental state.