My pre-adolescent daughter seems to be on her way to developing an eating disorder. She is cutting her food intake because she wants to be 'skinny'. She is not heavy at all, neither is she thin, she is average height and weight.
She stands by the mirror and gets very angry at herself for being 'fat', which she isn't.
I am clueless as to how to help her. I have gone the approach of telling her how beautiful she is on the inside and that she is not fat at all, in fact all her life I have never made an issue about weight and looks.
Next I went with the approach of ignoring her outbursts.
At this point I'm at a loss of how to help her, how to respond to what I consider a 'craziness'.
I have no clue where this stems from, and whether there's a chance this can be reversed.
If anyone can explain this to me and offer some advice I'd very much appreciate it.
Also, is it a feature of a 'compulsive' personality?