Mum's eating pact with anorexic daughter

Parents can feel powerless to help anorexic children

The mother of an anorexic Southampton schoolgirl says she will starve alongside her daughter to shock her back into eating.

Karen Wiltshire, 16, has been admitted to Southampton General Hospital for specialist treatment after her weight dropped from eight to six stone over the past 18 months.

Her mother Sally, 40, who herself suffers from anorexia, has pledged to eat with her daughter and stop eating when Karen does.

Mrs Wiltshire, from Netley Abbey, near Southampton, Hants, said: "Karen knows I am anorexic too and if I go without food for too long, I will end up like her again.

It's fraught with dangers because anorexia nervosa is a disorder that exercises a total grip on the individual

Professor Arthur Crisp

"I can control my eating - and I want her to learn to do the same thing."

Karen said she became anorexic after being bullied about her weight at school but had been inspired by her mother's decision.

She said: "I hope to be like mum and be able to control it. I just want things to go back to normal and for my family to be happy again."

Shock tactics

But concerns have been raised that the shock tactics could do more harm than good.

Eating disorder specialist Professor Arthur Crisp told BBC News Online: "It's fraught with dangers because anorexia nervosa is a disorder that exercises a total grip on the individual and her mother's behaviour may not influence the daughter.

"She might feel compelled to continue which would equip her even less well to help her daughter."

He added: "She has an important role to play to support her daughter and try to understand how she can best do that, rather than try to desperately manipulate the situation."