Enmeshment

• Family patterns of enmeshment create blurred boundary lines.unhappy asian teenager image by Gina Smith from Fotolia.com
  
  Family dynamics that include unclear or constantly changing boundaries, high involvement and intrusion between parents and children can contribute to enmeshment, where the child doesn’t know where he begins and the parent ends. Children in a family with enmeshment can develop control issues around food to clarify the lines through a basic method of survival: eating or not eating, as the case may be. Eating disorders develop from subconscious issues, although they result in day-to-day behaviors.
  
  

Rigidity

• Families who demonstrate controlling natures may influence the development of eating disorders. Parents who are prone to perfectionism and resistant to change may not allow children to grow as individuals. These children may fall into an eating disorder as a way to determine success, feel control and please the parents. Eating disorders can be related to activities such as sports, modeling and gymnastics, thus leading to an intertwined nature of eating, control and achievement.
  
  

Overprotectiveness

• Parents who are overprotective may stifle a growing adolescent’s need to fly on her own and be autonomous. Children of overprotective parents may feel they are not good enough to succeed alone and desire a sense of control in their lives. Anorexia nervosa or bulimia can end up being the one space a child has for control in a family where she feels she has none.
  
  

Conflict

• Family dynamics that include dysfunctional and abusive conflict or strict conflict avoidance are often found in families with eating disorders. A person who has suffered trauma or abuse may develop an eating disorder to continue the cycle of abuse on a subconscious level or to gain control. Conflict avoidance can lead to the repressing of emotions, which also can lead someone to gain control and relief through an eating disorder.
  
  

Support

• Family support can make a difference for someone with an eating disorder.happy image by DOLPHIN from Fotolia.com
  
  Families experiencing eating disorders can do many things to untangle the web creating the disorder. Healing past trauma and acknowledging patterns that are not healthy with a trained professional is a first step to transforming the disorder. Families can support the person with the disorder in many ways. The ways in which they can help are developing awareness of the factors that contribute to eating disorders, model healthy self-esteem and body image, and challenge beliefs and media that ascertain people need to change themselves to be accepted. Families can also make sure to avoid labeling foods as “bad” or “good,” and fully support the person in her journey of healing the eating disorder.