Anorexic - Ch5 last night

[Sidge]

Did anyone watch this?

Gosh it was a hard watch. Interesting but my heart went out to the young women and their families.

Of sorry, frustration OF their mums. Yes I agree.

Saw this too. Very sad.
Have worried about this with my dd in the past, as she too is a very ordered perfectionist type, albeit she doesn't have an eating disorder.
It struck me when Lotties mum was describing how her dd had been so different as a junior school aged child, that with some kids the teenage years or puberty is like flicking a switch.

I’ve watched about half of it, crying the whole time.
DD became unwell 2 years ago and is nowhere near on the path to recovery.
She’s been in general hospital and is currently a Tier 4 unit patient and sectioned so she can’t refuse treatment or she wouldn’t accept any intervention at all.
It’s absolutely relentless and feels like it will never end. It has such a massive impact on me and her siblings.

Lottie’s story felt the closest to ours, I dread DD getting to 18 and me not having the power to have her admitted.
I really, really think she would just starve herself to the point of no return in her room.

So scary 😟

DD has anorexia, or maybe recovering.

How do you watch something so upsetting? I couldn't do it. Even if DD wasn't in the group, I wouldn't want to watch that.

I wanted to watch it as the girls talk so openly about their struggles and the thoughts and voices, it gives me some insight into how DD is feeling as she won’t tell me herself.

I do think it's better to know about the possibility of it happening with some knowledge rather than none or very little.
There is also an element of ,I don't want to say fascination because it's not the right word. But they way they some like someone said about it being a different being. It's hard to get your head around. And hard for someone who's not been there to see how they seemed to know about it but not stop it at the same time.
I'd rather know what I've learnt in these programmes than not.
But hope to god we never have to experience it

We’ve been living with this for 3 years. It’s the first time I’ve ever seen anything that even begins to show the impact on mothers and families. It’s huge.

My DD is recently diagnosed but in denial. She wanted to watch a programme on it to make it ‘more real’ for her. Do you think this is not the right programme for her?

I haven’t watched this programme but as a recovering anorexic I can say do not let her watch it! Try to keep her away from others with anorexia as it’s common for them to fuel the disease more in each other.

If she needs to talk to someone to make her feel normal then I would suggest an adult who has recovered, not another teen going through it.

I wish her all the best in her recovery.

Thanks, that’s really helpful to know. Can you think of another way I can make it ‘more real’ for her to understand the danger she’s putting herself in, or do you think that’s just to be avoided altogether?