Understanding Gendered Realities: Mothers and Father Roles in Family Based Therapy for Adolescent Eating Disorders

AbstractEating disorders are serious and life threatening illnesses that typically present during adolescence. The current recommended treatment for adolescents diagnosed with anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa is Family-Based Therapy. Family-Based Therapy is a manualized treatment that empowers parents to temporarily take control of the eating disorder symptoms. However, literature often discusses the role of parents in treatment, yet the reality is that mothers are often tasked with the difficult role of interrupting symptoms for their adolescent, while fathers remain absent or, at best, a support to the mother. By removing the gender from literature, we are failing to examine ways to better support mothers and engage fathers in family-based treatment. Through the use of case studies and limited literature, this paper will examine how these mothering and fathering expectations surface in treatment, how they may be perpetuated by professionals, and the impact that these gendered expectations may have on mothers and fathers.
Source: Clinical Social Work Journal - Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research