By Emily T. Troscianko — 2015
Thoughts on doing more good than harm when someone you care about is ill.
Read on www.psychologytoday.com
CLEAR ALL
You not calling, as a friend, can actually compound the grief and loss they are feeling. Just pick up the phone, even if you get it wrong, just have a conversation and do your best. Your friend with cancer is still the same person they were before.
Lend your support without adding more stress.
If you’re here, it's because you want to better support someone in your life who has an eating disorder—and that's an amazing first step. Very likely, you are feeling worried about your loved one and you are confused about what you should and should not do.
The field of neurobiology and eating disorders is one that is being continually studied and understood.
No matter what you say to someone whose parent or loved one died, it should be derivative of the same goal: communicating empathy and offering assistance, understanding what a person might need from you, and knowing how to phrase sentiments the right way.
Society has also conditioned us to believe eating disorders afflict only young, white, thin, and affluent women. But in reality, they can affect anyone, regardless of age, gender, ethnicity, socioeconomic background, or weight.
With each diagnosis, knowing her life hung in the balance, she was “stunned, then anguished” and astonished by “how much energy it takes to get from the bad news to actually starting on the return path to health.”
Understanding how and why can help people cope with the disorder.
Does your autistic loved one tend to overshare or overexplain? We don't mean to come off as desperate or creepy, we just connect differently.
Advice often means more when it comes from someone who has walked in your shoes. Perhaps these tips for making friends from an autistic teen will spark some inspiration!