Teens and eating disorders

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Teens - Dealing With Eating Disorders

The National Eating Disorder Association reports that "in the United States, as many as 10 million females and 1 million males are fighting a life and death battle with an eating disorder such as anorexia or bulimia." In the last two decades, that number has been on the rise.

So what exactly is an eating disorder? According to Robert S. McGee, founder and president of Rapha, and author of many recovery books and resources:

Eating disorders are not the strange food cravings women may experience during pregnancy. Eating disorders are not personal habits of overeating with consequential weight gains, nor are they necessarily the habits of skipping meals with consequential weight loss. An eating disorder is not the inability to stick to a diet...Eating disorders are compulsive-addictive behavioral patterns in which a person's substance of choice for abuse is food.

How do you recognize if you, or someone you know, may be struggling with an eating disorder? The National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders, also known as ANAD, lists warning signs of disordered eating - here are a few:

Preoccupation with food
Constant dieting and/or binge eating
Abnormal weight loss or gain
Compulsive exercise or abuse of laxatives
Refusal to eat and denial of hunger
Sensitivity to cold
Abnormal menstrual cycles (for women)
Dehydration and malnutrition

If you suspect you may be at risk, take this Eating Disorder Need Assessment Survey, supported by The Olive Branch Outreach, a Hope and Healing resource for eating disorders. This may give you a good idea as to whether you should take further steps to alleviate the onset of this psychologically impairing battle before things get any worse.

The causes of eating disorders are wide and broad, but the most prominent factors appearing in adolescents are the following:

Sociocultural Influences - unfortunately in a culture where physical beauty is emphasized and prized highly, being thin sometimes becomes associated with being valued as a person
Pain - a way to deal with abuse, feelings of inadequacy or low self-worth
Perfectionism - belief in an ideal that is unattainable
Need for Control - in a world that sometimes seems "out of control," food becomes the one thing you can control
Distorted Beliefs about yourself and your relationship with God

A comprehensive list of causes can also be found at Anorexia Nervosa and Related Eating Disorders, Inc.

What can you do to help yourself, or someone you know, who you suspect struggles with issues of eating, weight or body image? HelpGuide offers suggestions as to how you should approach a friend or family member, and it also supplies information if you think that you need further advice. Another comprehensive website that lists various resources can be found at edreferral.com.

The following links will help to guide you to the information you need:

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