I am part of a Facebook support group, Mothers Against Eating Disorders; it is a powerful community of empathetic and educated women. It was someone on that page that put this article, A Surefire Way to Give your Kid an Eating Disorder on my radar. The author is a total idiot and self-promoter who also happens to be a Licensed Clinical Social Worker which means that there are likely people who think she knows what she's talking about. She does not.
I don't mind when people I meet only possess erroneous information about eating disorders. That was me before I got educated. So, no problem, I am happy to educate you. I am honored to educate you.
But this therapist is rehashing old, disproven, tired tropes and people may be harmed by listening to her rather than getting evidence-based treatment.
I never did one single thing on her list of "surefire ways to give your kid an eating disorder." My family has been certified happy, healthy, loving, supportive and eminently functional by multiple clinicans. Sure kids with eating disorders come from parents and home like the ones she describes; that's because kids with eating disorders come from all different types of families.
As was eloquently asked in the comments of that post, would a person DARE to write an article about surefire ways to give your kid cancer? Absolutely not. Even though some kids with cancer have horrible parents and terrible home lives.
Correlation does not equal causation. It's science. Michelle Lewis, LCSW ought to investigate it.
This woman is insipid and her surefire methods are bullshit. My husband and I are about as laid back as you can get without being able to hold a successful job, perfectionists we are not. Our daughter, on the other hand, is a list maker, organized and six days ahead of every deadline. She just came into the world that way. This woman should be ashamed to publish this outdated and, frankly, bogus information. It bothers me when ANY practioner doesn't stay on top of the current research. She probably still assumes emotionally withholding mothers cause autism. Just more evidence that finding good health care providers takes work.
Posted by: mrs. g. | February 01, 2013 at 03:47 AM
Therapists like that do so much harm. Often, they absolve the patient of the responsibility to help herself get well and stay well by allowing her to blame her problems on external causes. Many people (not all!) with eating or other mental disorders tend to gravitate toward excuses that allow them to not take responsibility for their problems.
Posted by: suburbancorrespondent | February 01, 2013 at 10:07 AM
I'd be outraged. Good for you to call her out!
Posted by: Green Girl in Wisconsin | February 01, 2013 at 11:33 AM
Good Grief! The crap she's purporting to be truths!
Posted by: Trudie | February 01, 2013 at 12:25 PM
"Physician, heal thyself!" was the mantra that kept coming to mind while reading the article ad her replies to commenters.
I was very impressed with the caliber of discussion points and research brought by the dissenting commenters.
If family of origin had that much to do with a teenager "coming down with" EDs, I would have been a prime candidate.
Posted by: Karen (formerly kcinnova) | February 01, 2013 at 03:35 PM
*AND* (not "ad")
Posted by: Karen (formerly kcinnova) | February 01, 2013 at 07:15 PM
Considering how hard it is to become a licensed therapist, I am amazed at how many are so bad. And capitalizing on it, yet.
Posted by: Brightside-Susan | February 01, 2013 at 09:49 PM
Oh my! Even people who "aren't educated" about eating disorders, should be able to see that woman has her head up her a**. How do people like that keep their licensure? How do we the public even know if her licensure is real? On the other hand, maybe we should thank her for writing that tripe, so we can know to steer clear of her! Thanks for sharing that.
Posted by: Lala | February 02, 2013 at 08:12 AM
She sounds like a full-blown idiot, and it scares me that people might read and believe this.
Posted by: lanes | February 02, 2013 at 11:46 AM
Interesting! I haven't dealt with this myself, but my friend (who was about 400 pounds, had gastric bypass and is constantly talking about food) has a daughter that has an eating disorder. To me it seems obvious that it's because of how she was raised in a household where food was such a huge ordeal.(and there was always a lot of pressure to be a straight A student) Maybe it's like cancer as you say where you can just be more susceptible to certain situations?
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