There are several reasons why your daughter may be purging.
She may be compensating for food she has eaten, it may serve the purpose of releasing emotions and it may be a form of cleansing.
Let's look at each one of these individually.
1)Compensation for food consumed: Some girls restrict what they eat and try to lose weight by purging to compensate or "get rid of" the food they just ate.
They may have eaten only a small amount and consider that a binge, they may have eaten a "normal" amount of food like at a meal, or they may have actually binged and eaten more than most people would eat in one meal, but in a short period.
Regardless of the circumstances, they feel the need or urge to compensate or undo what they just did.
Their anxiety level rises to the point where they feel they have to get rid of what they ate and they will go to great lengths to secretly purge.
It seems like the only way to relieve that anxiety is to throw up.
The overall goal is to not gain weight and their belief is purging will prevent weight gain.
2)Overall emotional release: In adolescence girls are often overwhelmed by emotions they do not know how to deal with.
It is not uncommon for them to say, "I keep a lot inside.
" As a matter of fact, I just heard that statement from a 16 year old girl today.
It becomes a bad solution to a legitimate problem.
3)Cleansing: The reason I am separating emotional release from cleansing, though they are similar, is because emotional release is about the process of getting rid of the food, the feeling of fullness, stress and emotions.
Cleansing is more a byproduct of the emotional release.
Once they have purged there is a feeling of being clean.
They have a fresh start; a sense of physical, emotional, mental and even spiritual relief.
This lasts until the buildup of emotion and binge purge cycle begins again.
The cleansed feeling itself can become addictive in that the only way they can get that feeling is by purging.
Guilt and shame come quickly on the heels of relief and cleansing, but for a few moments they feel clean.
These three issues are major hurdles to cross in the recovery from the eating disorder.
Once girls are able to see that the problem is legitimate and understandable (not knowing what to do with their feelings), and that they need a healthier solution, most will learn new ways of coping with the difficult emotions they experience.