There has been a lot of talk lately about the roll parents causes eating disorders in their children, this is the case or not? It is a very sensitive topic because it is painful for families to even think that they are a potential cause of their daughter / son bulimia and / or anorexia.

I am a doctor and suffered anorexia and bulimia for over 15 years. Also I have been involved in the treatment of hundreds of eating disorder sufferers. Personally, I do not know a family that wishes to encourage eating disorders in their children. I would say to parents and family do not cause eating disorders directly.

However, I know firsthand that family atmosphere, parents style and undiagnosed mental and emotional problems in parents contribute much to the development of eating disorders in their children.

There’s a lot of research on the roll of the genetic predisposition to eating disorders. Yes, eating disorders have a genetic component as well, but it is only a vulnerability to developing an eating disorder not the disease itself that people can make.

People can also inherit certain personality traits that make them vulnerable to developing eating disorders: As perfectionism, a tendency to anxiety and depression, impulsiveness and competitiveness stubbornly. All of these can make people vulnerable to developing eating disorders.

It is an environment that turns people’s vulnerability to the disease. How people live their lives from birth that can make genetic weaknesses become illness.

first and most important environmental people is their family. Often people with eating disorders describe how in their youth they had a tense family environment where parents very strict and controlling. Children in families like this does not have much space to experiment and be free. These types of parents do not let the children find their own way in life, turning them into puppets who are forced to be followers and governed by strict rules.

In families like these children turn to eating disorders as a way to control their lives the best they possibly can and to find emotional escape in bed eating disorder them.

Other types of families overprotective one. Protective behavior puts a child so many restrictions that the child is likely to seek her / his freedom and escape in things like eating, non-eating and manipulating their own weight. These parents can not let the children be different than the mental image of them of them or how they think the child should be. They look at the performance of the child only from the perspective of their own desires and opinions.

Most parents in these types of families still want only the best for their children and do not even realize that what they are doing is bad for the baby. Many parents have their own emotional issues to deal with, which are still unresolved and deeply rooted in their own childhood. Some parents might even have a diagnosed mental disorders such as obsessive and compulsive symptoms or personality disorders. Because these problems have never been diagnosed parents are not aware of them and continue to put enormous pressure on their children and other family members.

Many doctors and therapists believe parents blame the disruption of their children is not a good idea, because parents feel guilty and shameful for the way they themselves are. These feelings of guilt and shame can stop parents from helping a child recover and parents even refuse to participate in the recovery plan of the child.

Nevertheless, it is proven now that if a family atmosphere remains the same a non – loving, challenging, restrictive and overprotective one, the child has little chance of getting better

The purpose of writing this article did not put a lot of blame on the parents, but just to warn families eat. disorder sufferers that certain changes need to be made in family atmosphere if the family wants to help their loved one recover.