- Take care of yourself. “When your kid has an eating disorder everything is focused on her, it has to be. But the whole family is taken hostage. There is not a lot out there for the family. It helps to hear other people’s stories, see how other people have responded. See your own therapist; turn to your own faith, whatever works for you. There are message boards on the internet, which is a way to reach out and communicate with others.”
- Take care of your family. “Both of my daughters were impacted with sadness that their sister wasn’t better. My middle daughter was talking about suicide with friends and my youngest was hitting kids on the playground out of anger. Everyone was so sad and devastated and in their own ways, acting it out. Everyone went into therapy. I want to say to the girls that it’s impacting everyone around you, but that’s difficult as a parent because you know how these kids are beating themselves up every day. They cocoon themselves and don’t realize what happens to their family.”
- We don’t hold ourselves up. “We don’t say, ‘Hey, we did everything right.’ We are not the poster children to beat this. There isn’t one way to do this. It is a process. Each person will find something different to decide on recovery. Try not to lose hope. You do the best you can.”
Distorted may be one valuable tool that can help families do just that.
For more information on Lorri and Taryn’s Distorted, visit them here.
Related Story: Body Drama: A Women’s Story
