Eating Disorders in Teens - Adolescents
Adolescents that are suffering from eating disorders need help and treatment immediately, not only do eating disorders have a long lasting impact or long term effects but they can be dangerous and fatal. Therapeutic treatment can help adolescents with eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and binge eating.
Adolescents often think they are can take on the world, this becomes one of the many downfalls of eating disorders and drug or substance abuse in adolescents today. Adolescents that suffer from eating disorders do not realize or do not believe that there are long-term effects of eating disorders on their bodies.
Often times adolescents with eating disorders often ignore or minimize the significance of their physical problems, even with multiple or frequent trips to the emergency room or doctors. These trips can even be life threatening. Three main eating disorders parents should worry about with their adolescents are anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and binge-eating disorder.
Eating Disorders and Symptoms in Adolescents
There are specific signs and symptoms of eating disorders in adolescents. Some are obvious and some are often times unrecognizable. In anorexia nervosa, adolescents starve themselves because of their desire to keep an unrealistic or un healthy image. Symptoms of anorexia nervosa are the refusal to eat, underweight, dizziness or fainting, excessive exercise, and denial of hunger.
When adolescents are consuming large amounts of food, then purging (ridding themselves of it) they have the eating disorder bulimia nervosa. Specific signs or symptoms of bulimia nervosa are damaged teeth or gums, sores in mouth and throat, constant dieting, self-induced vomiting, bathroom trips directly after eating.
Eating disorders are not just for adolescents that are determined to be thin or “perfect” obesity and binge-eating are also considered disorders. Binge-eating disorder is the act of compulsively overeating thousands of calories in a short period of time, often times this is done in secret.
As a parent you may be thinking “What is causing my child to have an eating disorder?” truth is no one can really state with certainty what causes eating disorders among adolescents. Possible causes of eating disorders in adolescents include genetics and biology, psychological and emotional conditions, cultural and social issues (popular media).
It is important to find adolescents help and therapeutic treatment for eating disorders as soon as possible, they have long term effects and can even be fatal. Options for therapeutic treatment for adolescents with eating disorders can be found within residential treatment centers.
