Caregivers in anorexia nervosa: is grief underlying parental burden?

Abstarct: PURPOSE: Anorexia Nervosa (AN) is a severe chronic disorder and parents' experience of caregiving is usually marked by emotional distress and burden. Severe chronic psychiatric disorders are known to be linked with the concept of grief. Grief has not been investigated in AN.

Caregiving experience and expressed emotion among parents of adolescents suffering from anorexia nervosa following illness onset.

The aim of this study was to better understand the relationship between parents' experience of caregiving and expressed emotion during the early stage of their child's eating disorder. Fifty mothers and 38 fathers of adolescents suffering from anorexia nervosa and hospitalized for the first time participated in this study. They completed the Experience of Caregiving Inventory, a measure of the negative and positive aspects of the caregiving experience, and the Family Questionnaire, which measured the different dimensions of expressed emotion, namely emotional over-involvement and critical comments.