I never expected to draw a parallel between Anorexia, Autism and RAD, but then you never know where your thoughts will take you. All I know is that as a blogger, I'm constantly amazed to discover the similar plights of parenting children with all kinds of special needs.

Sitting in the waiting room during LuLu's latest evaluation, I picked up an old copy of Newsweek (December 5, 2005), where the cover article was on Fighting Anorexia. It was a fascinating overview of a mental illness I know little about. The author stated that anorexia has the highest mortality rate of any mental illness among children. Scary huh?

The author quoted Dr. Walter Kaye, an expert in the area, saying that researchers believe that seratonin at too high levels in the brain may be the cause. It went on to say that starvation caused a drop in tryptophan (which is the major amino acid associated with seratonin production) and actually made anorexics feel better. And one of the major points of the article was that anorexia was NOT a teen or youth disease, but that children as young as 8, 9, 10 were affected, with devastating results.

The article went on to praise the work at the Children's Hospital in Omaha, NE, one of the premiere treatment facilities for children with anorexia. Then it discussed a controversial approach being used in England called "Maudsley approach". This approach ran counter to what others recommend, in that it recommends forcing the child to eat. Prevailing wisdom had always been to address, through talk therapy or family therapy, the causes of the anxiety surrounding the anorexia -- exploring the child's feelings about adolescence and encouraging him/her to eat. Or by targeting family processes and dynamics, and addressing dysfunctional patterns.

The Maudsley Approach is different. It is highly focused on behavioral changes and the active involvement of the parents in re-feeding their child.

It was at this point that I began drawing the parallels.

First, the article stated that much of the traditional treatment for anorexia focused on problems within the family and "blaming" the parents for the illness. There were doctors quoted in the article who are not telling the parents it is NOT their fault, it is an illness, caused by a chemical imbalance. How many parents of children with autism, with reactive attachment disorder (RAD), with bipolar or other neurological/mental impairments are led to believe that it is somehow OUR FAULT???? It's been a long time since anyone has officially advocated the icebox mom theory for autism, but blaming the parents for disabled children's behaviors is still very commonplace.

Secondly, I drew a parallel between the controversy of the treatment and the need for parents and professionals to take a hard-line approach in healing these kids. There isn't much research out there as to which approach works best with young anorexics, although the initial studies are showing the Maudsley approach to have great success (up to 90% of those treated). Therapists train parents and monitor the situation, to encourage the parents to stay on task and focused toward re-feeding their child and supervising all mealtimes and snacks for at least 6-12 months. This approach (as well as the praises and criticisms) reminded me of the intense behavioral interventions that parents are often coached through for both Autism (like ABA or RDI) or RAD (like therapeutic parenting, or the often-controversial holding therapy).

So the psychotherapy researchers are left to discuss whether parents can be effective therapists for their children in all three cases. The debate in academia rages on. Meanwhile, clinicians all over the world are training parents, and parents are effectively promoting healing of their children from all three of these disorders. Whether there can be healing is up for debate as well -- especially where autism is concerned. But that's not stopping the parents.

So bloggers, like me, are connecting the dots and realizing that parents of special needs children have a lot more in common than we have differences. And parents, who are often the most motivated people when it comes to their own children, are "going in after" their children who have been lost to these various devastating disorders.