In the beginning stages of Maudsley therapy, parents take an active role in the re-feeding of their child, sometimes at the boisterous and adamant opposition of the child. Yet it is a necessary step toward their child’s recovery, re-feeding by parents who just want their eating disordered children to live, and to live free of an eating disorder.

Sadly, parents have sometimes been cast as the “bad guys” for “policing” their child’s food intake in this manner, or for monitoring purging symptoms, and watching out for signs of self-starvation (even by some healthcare professionals). Yet many of these parents are face the challenge of their lifetimes in helping to re-feed their child, and they need all the support they can get.

The truth is, being the “food police” is not a bad thing, when what you are “policing” is that your child has sufficient food intake to stay alive and become healthy. Still, however, a negative connotation surrounds the term, and as I have recently discovered, this misnomer has led many parents to feel guilty, conflicted, and even vilified for their efforts, all the while that they are in the fight of their, and their child’s, life.

So here’s a thought: let’s show our support for these families, and for our patients, by getting rid of the term “food police” altogether – It’s confusing, it is demeaning to parents, it contradicts what research shows about Maudsley therapy, and it is just plain not helpful.

I guess you could say that I am voluntarily “policing” myself into a more healthy, and more helpful, vocabulary for eating disorders recovery.

Care to join me?

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