Coping and support

You may find it difficult to cope with bulimia when you're hit with mixed messages by the media, culture, coaches, family, and maybe your own friends or peers. So how do you cope with a disease that can be deadly when you're also getting messages that being thin is a sign of success?

• Remind yourself what a healthy weight is for your body.
• Resist the urge to diet or skip meals, which can trigger binge eating.
• Don't visit websites that advocate or glorify eating disorders.
• Identify troublesome situations that trigger thoughts or behaviors that may contribute to your bulimia, and develop a plan to deal with them.
• Have a plan in place to cope with the emotional distress of setbacks.
• Look for positive role models who can help boost your self-esteem.
• Find pleasurable activities and hobbies that can help distract you from thoughts about bingeing and purging.
• Build up your self-esteem by forgiving yourself, focusing on the positive, and giving yourself credit and encouragement.

Get support

If you have bulimia, you and your family may find support groups helpful for encouragement, hope and advice on coping. Group members can truly understand what you're going through because they've been there. Ask your doctor if he or she knows of a group in your area.

Coping advice for parents

If you're the parent of someone with bulimia, you may blame yourself for your child's eating disorder. But eating disorders have many causes, and parenting style is not considered a cause. It's best to focus on how you can help your child now.

Here are some suggestions:

• Ask your child what you can do to help. For example, ask if your teenager would like you to plan family activities after meals to reduce the temptation to purge.
• Listen. Allow your child to express feelings.
• Schedule regular family mealtimes. Eating at routine times is important to help reduce binge eating.
• Let your teenager know any concerns you have. But do this without placing blame.

Remember that eating disorders affect the whole family, and you need to take care of yourself, too. If you feel that you aren't coping well with your teen's bulimia, you might benefit from professional counseling. Or ask your child's primary care provider about support groups for parents of children with eating disorders.