How to handle emotional storms in eating disorder recovery

Many parents who have a child with an eating disorder feel buffeted by constant emotional storms, which may include yelling, crying, and arguments. Emotional storms are part of eating disorder recovery because many times the underlying driver of the eating disorder behaviors is emotional dysregulation.

These emotional storms may seem bizarre and unpredictable. But look deeper and you’ll learn that these storms are your child’s way of asking you for help. Yes, they’re uncomfortable. Of course we would rather our children come to us with polite and well-worded requests for help. But that’s not typically how it goes.

A child who has an eating disorder will ask for help not with words but behaviors. And sometimes the most difficult and off-putting behaviors are the most important ones to handle.

Emotional storms pass when your meet your child’s emotional needs. The good news is that any parent can learn how to provide emotional care even if it doesn’t feel natural. Here are six things to do when an emotional storm comes along:

1. Don’t freak out

The first thing you need to do for a child who starts an emotional storm is to stop your instinctual first response. You may actually be “emotion-phobic,” and feel physically repelled by a child who starts crying, yelling or arguing with you. Your first instinct may be to yell back, roll your eyes, or just leave the room.

But your child has very real needs for emotional connection. Emotional needs are just as life-critical as our need for air, food and water. Recognize that you are freaking out, remind yourself that this isn’t your fault but you still need to do the work, and focus on giving them what they need right now.

2. Forget about time

It’s not unusual for parents to feel exhausted by their child’s emotional needs. One thought that might come up for you is how ridiculous their emotional needs are, and the thought that you don’t have time to do this for them all the time. OK. That’s a valid fear for you.

Now take a breath and remember that your child is in the process of healing from a terrible, self-destructive disorder. They need you to work through your aversions and show up for them during emotional storms. Rest assured that your time investment and attention to their emotional care is absolutely worthwhile.

Also remember that emotional storms don’t last forever. Most emotional storms, when addressed compassionately, can be resolved in less than an hour. As your child heals and you get better at weathering these storms together, they may pass in just a few minutes. Like anything new, it’s going to take practice. Take a deep breath and just be here now. Go minute by minute if you need to, but stay with them.

3. Make it about your child, not you

It’s not unusual to feel very angry, overwhelmed, or irritated when a child is having an emotional storm. But you have to set that aside. You child needs you, and this is part of your job as their parent. Make this moment about their needs.

An emotional storm is not the time for you to talk about how your child’s behavior makes you feel. Don’t ask them what you should do, what you were supposed to do, or any other questions that indicate you feel victimized by their emotions. During an emotional storm, your child needs you to be solely focused on their needs. This is not because your needs don’t matter (they absolutely do), but it’s all about timing, and this is not the time.

If you find yourself panicked and either lashing out or biting your tongue through every emotional storm, then please see a coach or therapist to help you with your very natural and real feelings of frustration. Your feelings are valid, and a qualified therapist can help you get your needs for self-expression met while still giving your child the emotional care they need during eating disorder recovery.

4. Reflect, don’t defend

When your child says something during an emotional storm, don’t debate, deny or judge what they said. Those responses are all defensive, which means you are defending against your child’s need for emotional connection. To them, it feels as if you have erected a wall between the two of you. Their continued yelling, arguing, or crying is an attempt to break the wall down.

Instead of getting defensive, reflect on what they say. This is how we reassure people that we hear and understand them, and it is what our children crave most from us. You will know this is working when the volume goes down.

This takes a lot of practice. Most of the time when we get defensive we genuinely don’t see ourselves as being defensive. You may not realize this, but denying that you are being defensive is actually being defensive. Listen to your child. If they rage even louder at you after you say something, then there is a good chance you said something to defend yourself against their emotional experience.

Remember that emotional storms pass when you meet your child’s emotional needs. So take a deep breath, and listen to what your child says. Reflect back to them what you heard so that they know you are listening.

5. Slow down

Sometimes parents attempt to solve their kids’ problems as quickly as possible, but if we try to move too quickly to resolve the problem, we will not meet our child’s emotional needs. Remember that whatever they are raging about is a cover for their actual need to feel emotionally connected with you.

If they are arguing with you about the stupidity of the school’s dress code, don’t tell them that’s just how it is and they need to get over it. Encourage them to talk about what the restrictions on clothing means to them.

If they are crying because they failed a test, don’t tell them it will be better next time. Instead, help them use the test as a way to connect with you and feel heard and seen by you.

Don’t say “it will all be fine.” Say “I can see it feels really bad for you right now,” and let them keep talking about it. This is how we build emotional connection. The result is that our children feel truly seen and understood by us, which is every child’s deepest wish.

This is hard. Remember that your child’s need for emotional connection is normal and natural, and within your power to give. It may not be easy, but you can learn to give them what they need to thrive. Be patient with yourself, and get the support you need to learn these skills.

But why so many?

If you are still wondering why your child with an eating disorder has so many emotional storms, here are a few things to consider:

1. Emotional care is a fundamental human need

All humans are hard-wired to seek emotional care as well as physical care from their parents. In fact, an infant sees no difference between emotional and physical care. Infants who are raised with only physical care and zero emotional care do not flourish. They suffer tremendously from lack of emotional nurturing. This is a biological adaptation based on the fact that we are social animals and thrive in groups. Emotional caregiving is how we bond with our group and remain safe and alive.

Your child’s emotional storms are an attempt to gain emotional caregiving. Rather than seeing it as a failure on their part of yours, see it as an opportunity to help them.

2. Some humans need more emotional care than others

Some people have a greater need for emotional intimacy than others. If your child has an eating disorder, then there is a good chance that they fall in the category of “Highly Sensitive People,” a trait that can been observed in the very first year of life. These children have a highly sensitive nervous system that can pick up on emotions in a way that seems supernatural to most people. It is not uncommon for parents who themselves have normal or low emotional sensitivity to have a child who baffles them with high sensitivity traits. This mismatch is not anyone’s fault but must be addressed during eating disorder treatment.

A child who has a lot of emotional storms during eating disorder treatment is showing that they need more emotional care. That care may look different than what you thought it meant to care for someone. It might look different than the care you’ve given to your other children or the care you received as a child. But it’s worth investigating the cause, the need, and learning new skills to support your child emotionally.

3. It’s not your fault

Very few parents intentionally neglect their children’s emotional needs. Most of the time the trouble lies in a misunderstanding of a child’s needs because they function differently than you do. When your child has an emotional storm, it’s hard not to feel personally attacked and defensive, especially if they are criticizing your parenting. You may be tempted to withdraw because it feels so hateful when you did (and are doing) your very best.

But please understand that this is not about whether you did your best. This is simply about the fact that you did your very best, and now there is more to be done. Emotions and eating disorders are linked, and this is your opportunity to help. Our children never lose their need to be seen and understood by their parents, and people who have eating disorders are likely to continue getting stuck in self-destructive behaviors as long as they feel emotionally under-nourished.

See Our Guide to Emotions And Eating Disorders