Reminds me of a former online best friend of mine, who had anorexia. Her roommate and her doctors were extremely concerned about it. She was in and out of hospitals when I met her.

I read everything I could about anorexia and realized...I can't force her to eat. She's already got people doing that and she hates it. And I'm just someone on the internet.

But what I could do, was be her friend. She had a clinical depression and I would tell her jokes and tell her how great I thought she was--and I never tired of doing so, until she began to believe me. She had an abusive SO, and I told her, she doesn't have to take it. She can get a better SO.

It took several years and a lot of nurturing and giving her love. She began to get better. She started to laugh more. She dumped her SO and found a better one who treats her great. She wasn't in and out of hospitals anymore. Whatever emotional difficulties she had, I did my best to help her deal with it and find happiness. It started to work.

One day, she was looking in the mirror as she was putting on an old blouse she hadn't worn in years. It used to be a snug fit but now it hung on her like a tent. She looked in the mirror and for the first time ever, she could actually perceive she was severely underweight. Her mind wouldn't let her see it before. It really scared her.

All the denial and the battle of wills suddenly stopped. She went into remission. I think her subconscious finally felt safe enough to let go of the delusion that she was still fat.

She's not longer anorexic, hasn't been in years. Last I heard she's the happiest and healthiest she's ever been.

The others were just trying to treat the symptoms. I instead helped her to cope with the unhappiness in her life.