Help

@PlatinumPretzel - Hi there - I'm glad you reached out. It can be really scary to see a friend taking dangerous steps and not know how to help. Eating disorders are tricky, because they often run deeper than just not wanting to eat and because of that, it's not something that can be simply "convinced" to change. But Alexa is lucky to have someone who clearly cares about her as much as you do!

Often the first step with eating disorder recovery is admitting that there's a problem and seeing how the behavior is impacting your life negatively. Do you think Alexa has been able to see that? Are there things that she isn't able to do because she's not eating and drinking enough? What are the impacts it's having for her? How would she react if she saw a friend doing the same thing?

Because you're a teen (and I assume she is, too), one option may be talking to an adult about what's going on. Do you feel like you could talk to your paretns or hers or to a teacher or counselor about what you're seeing and see if they can intervene to help her get the support she needs?

I also want to share with you a really great post on how to support someone you care about with an eating disorder - it has some really helpful tips for things to do and not to do that might be a good start to think about. And I will stress that this is something that does impact you, too, and it's okay to need some support of your own while supporting Alexa.

Take care!