Parents key to healing eating disorders LIVING with an anorexic teenager is extremely tough, but parents can be healers if they stop being over-protective and critical. With effective and early treatment, anorexia nervosa patients can get back to a safe weight relatively quickly, says UK Professor Janet Treasure, who is in Sydney to speak at the annual conference of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists. She says treatment is most successful if it starts within three years and involves the patient's family. In this case 50 per cent of patients regain weight within 12 months. Late or inappropriate treatment can lead to years of struggle and even brain damage and death. The skills that parents need are similar to those of nurses and therapists. They need to be able to control some of their natural reactions. But it is difficult not to lose your temper when confronted with a blank-faced teenager throwing two-year-old temper tantrums. Parents are desperate for guidance and are able to pick it up quickly. It is important for them to keep calm, as too much emotion stirs the pot and leads to a vicious cycle. They need a form of tough love. They must be firm about the need to keep eating but be compassionate for the suffering," says Prof Treasure, co-author of the book Anorexia Nervosa: A Survival Guide for Families, Friends and Sufferers. She says getting over an eating disorder is tough, but patients can take comfort from the potential for post-traumatic growth. This allows people to really benefit from having the disorder. They might have stronger relationships with their family or be driven to help others. People with an eating disorder are often extremely altruistic. Helping others can an important pathway to recovery themselves.