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Teen Eating Disorders
August 17, 2009 |
They’re everywhere! On TV, the internet, magazine covers, in the movies: the promise
of a better life just by having the perfect body. A message that could shape a negative
self image, especially for teens.
“Is your child always wearing baggy clothes to cover up their body? Have they gotten
into a workout routine that’s really incessant, where they’re constantly working
out?,” Lee Memmorial Health System family practitioner Dr. Avery Wright says these
could be signs of an eating disorder.
Often times, these disorders are associated
with the need to look perfect or be accepted. For some teens, it’s a way of coping
with stress.
“It can go either way. You can have a
sort of an obsessive compulsive thing where
they are working out, then there’s the people who, yeah, they are depressed, upset,
they are eating too much. Maybe they’re eating snacks all the time, or sodas all
the time,” explains Dr. Wright.
One way to tell if your child has an eating disorder is to look carefully at what
they are eating when and why they eat at certain times. You may also want to look
at their behavior. “Regardless of which direction they are going, you can see the
changes. You can see that something has changed and that they are going overboard
in one direction or the other,” adds Dr. Wright.
The first thing parents should do is have an open dialogue with their child. If
that doesn’t work, seeking out the family physician is the next best thing.
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