The questions I don't have the answer to. Do you?

What constitutes full and absolute recovery from an eating disorder? Can anyone ever fully recover from anorexia without the risk of relapse? How many "recovered" individuals still count calories and control their food intake, albeit while eating enough to put on weight and / or maintain? Can anyone ever lose the fear of "getting fat", especially if they continue to put on weight? Can anyone ever be shot of the so-called co-morbid mental health issues like depression, Aspergers, bi-polar and so on? Is there anyone on this planet who is completely symptom-free of any of these things? And, if so, is that what constitutes full recovery from anorexia? Should we never be talking about "recovery" from anorexia, rather "remission"?


I don't have the answer to any of these questions and I wonder if any of you do, because it's really tricky to know when something isn't OK and when it probably is OK - or at least the best we, as parents and carers, should ever expect.

Which takes us back to CAMHS' famous "we're happy to settle for 'good enough'" comment.

When should we parents be worried? Should we ever take our eyes off the ball? Are we going to be walking on eggshells and fraught with anxiety until our dying day? Will we continue to battle with issues of our own such as C-PTSD or whatever it is you want to call it?

Are our own battles with trauma-related issues untreatable because they may not ever be part of the past, rather part of the present and future.

I really, truly and honestly don't know.

In an ideal world, we'd be watching our 100% recovered, symptom-free, happy child skipping into the sunset, a marvellous fulfilled life in front of them.

But is this too much to expect?