What parents get wrong about eating disorders, including blaming themselves

Dr. Lauren Hartman is a double board certified pediatrician and adolescent medicine specialist with nearly 20 years of experience caring for young people. She runs a private practice in Berkeley, California, Aspen Grove Adolescent and Young Adult Medicine, where she specializes in eating disorders, and serves on the Eating Disorder Committee for the Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine. Her new book, Freeing Children and Young Adults from Shame, Scales and Stigma, published this year by Routledge, is written as a practical guide, with scripts and strategies for doctors, schools, and parents navigating this together.

Dr. Hartman and I talked openly about the shame so many parents carry, the false belief that eating disorders are somehow voluntary or self inflicted, and why that thinking needs to change. Dr. Hartman shared how she got into this work, why early intervention makes such a difference, and how parents, far from causing eating disorders, are actually one of the most powerful parts of a young person’s recovery. We also talked through what a worried parent should actually do first, the mistakes even well intentioned parents make, and why Dr. Hartman wrote her book to give families and clinicians the language they often don’t know how to find on their own.

Connect with Lauren: Website | Instagram | Substack | Buy the Book

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