Abstract
Due to a dearth of qualitative research on the experience of friends, nonparental family members, and romantic dating partners of those struggling with eating disorder symptoms, we undertook a phenomenological inquiry into this issue. After interviewing 12 participants who had a friend, family member, or romantic dating partner with eating disorder symptoms, we identified four main themes: (a) compassionate emotions toward the individual with eating disorder symptoms with a subtheme of concomitant emotions of frustration and/or anger, (b) sharing the burden of concern for the struggling individual, (c) intervening with boundaries, and (d) detrimental impact of the eating disorder on the relationship with the struggling individual and the participant’s own body image and/or eating behaviors.
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