Recommended Dos and Don’ts
DO • Educate yourself on eating disorders
• Learn the differences between facts and
myths about weight, nutrition and
exercise • Ask what you can do to help
• Listen openly and reflectively
• Be patient and nonjudgmental
• Talk with the person in a kind way when
you are calm and not angry, frustrated
or upset
• Remind the person that he/she has
people who care and support him/her
• Suggest professional help in a gentle way
and offer to go along
• Compliment the person’s personality
successes and accomplishments
• Encourage treatment compliance
• Encourage social activities
• Remember: Recovery work is up to the
affected person
• Understand that the person is not
looking for attention or pity
DON’T • Accuse or cause feelings of guilt
• Invade privacy and contact the patient’s
doctors or others behind his/her back
• Demand weight changes
• Make eating, food, clothes or appearance
the focus of the conversation
• Make promises or rules you cannot follow
• Threaten (e.g. if you do this once more I’ll…)
• Create guilt or place blame on the person
• Put timetables on recovery
• Take the person’s actions personally
• Try to change the person’s attitudes about
eating or nag about food
• Try to control the person’s life
• Use scare tactics to get the person into
treatment, but do call 911 if you believe
the person’s condition is life–threatening
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