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Author:
Peter Morrisson

In March 2003 our then 13 year old daughter, Helen, was diagnosed with anorexia nervosa, at which point she was on the verge of being emaciated. Her BMI was approximately 15.

My initial reluctance to accept this diagnosis was dispelled towards the end of the month when Helen became severely dehydrated and suffered a complete nervous breakdown as the anorexia finally took total control of both her mind and body. It may sound melodramatic, but it was as if she had become possessed. Helen’s reaction, when encouraged to drink a glass water in order to ease the stomach cramps caused by the dehydration, was uncharacteristically aggressive and resulted in an hysterical screaming fit which unnerved both myself and Fiona, my ex-wife. Helen flew into a rage and began to scream: “IT'S WEIGHT, IT'S WEIGHT, IT'S WEIGHT!”

At this point, we realised that we had no control over Helen whatsoever. However, by June 2003, only three months later, Fiona and myself had broken the illness and Helen was able to return to school. By September 2003 Helen had attained her perfect weight and the illness had been completely eradicated from her psyche. By January 2004, Helen was signed off by the adolescent mental health unit, her psychiatrist commenting that it was “one of the quickest recoveries” from mental illness that he had ever seen.

In order to break the anorexia, my ex-wife and myself devised a radical treatment programme which was contrary to the advice of the medical specialists and which, for a number of weeks, put us in direct confrontation with them. Throughout this period, I rigorously maintained the validity of our approach and predicted that the anorexia would be “done and dusted” by Christmas. Helen’s psychiatrist was extremely sceptical and was clearly concerned by what he must have perceived as my over-confidence. The very next day, Fiona received a phone call (May 2003) in which it was suggested that I was actively perpetuating the illness and we were both summarily summoned to an emergency meeting set for the following week. However, before the meeting could take place, our approach finally started to show results and Helen put on two pounds, thus attaining her highest weight in two months. As a result, the meeting became a rather muted affair and it was agreed that we would be monitored but essentially left to continue Helen's recovery via our own methods.

In the various sections of our website: www.escape-from-anorexia.com we have set out to explain exactly how we rescued Helen from this dreadful illness using a combination of diet, exercise and confidence building measures. Helen also contributes, providing invaluable testimony as to what it felt like to be anorexic and explaining how we, her parents, were able to break the iron grip that the anorexic mindset had upon her.

We are not necessarily advocating our strategies to anybody else but we do sincerely hope that our account of Helen’s record-breaking recovery may present some useful insights which might make a difference to you and your child.

Peter Morrisson
http://www.escape-from-anorexia.com

A Quick Note From The Publisher... If you like the article above, you may be interested in the following article which is also related to Eating Disorders... Eating Disorders - How To Prevent Them In this article in our continuing series on eating disorders we're going to concentrate on how to prevent an eating disorder from ever starting in the first place. There are a number of things someone can do to see that they never fall into the trap of dealing with an eating disorder. The most important thing a person can do is get educated. Learn everything there is to know about Anorexia, Bulimia, and binge eating disorders. Awareness of these diseases will help you make informed decisions about what constitutes proper food intake and what your body should look like for your height and bone structure. Get the idea out of your head that diet and the way your body will ultimate look will lead to happiness. There is more to being happy than just looks. This helps build self esteem. Challenge the ideas that weight loss and being thin are great and anything to do with fat is a bad thing. Naturally you don't want to eat to the point of obesity. But you do want to strike a balance between the two. Try not to categorize foods as being either good or bad, fattening or slimming. Try to remember that we need a balanced diet in our lives. Don't judge others and yourself by their appearance of being either fat or thin. It's what's inside a person that counts. Look beyond the physical appearance. Try to avoid the feeling that people will like you better if you lose weight. Remember that your friends are your friends and will like you no matter what you look like. Become critical of the media and their messages that in order to be popular you need to be thin. If you see one of these ads, yell back at the TV. If you see one of these ads in print, write to the editor. Don't let the media beat you. If you think someone has an eating disorder confront them in a...