Eating Disorders in Adolescents

There are many challenges for young girls and boys that lead to major issues like problems with self-image and eating disorders. In numerous studies done, it is easy to see that eating disorders do not have to be permanent. The studies done show that there are many ways to help people struggling with this disorder. Although there is always a change of relapse, bulimia nervosa and anorexia nervosa are two eating disorders that with time, the desire to get better, and the proper treatment, can be eliminated from a person’s life. Therefore, it is important that on college campuses, there is an organization ran by students for students to help build up self-confidence and decrease the rate of eating disorders.

Eating Disorders are a set of serious disorders with underlying psychiatric foundations. An eating disorder occurs when exercise, body weight and shape become an unhealthy obsession (Stein, Merrick, & Latzer, 2011). People with eating disorders take physical concerns to the extremes that they take on abnormal eating habits. There are a variety of cases that lead to an eating disorder and can affect both men and women, however its prevalence primarily occur in adolescence (Ison & Kent, 2010; Stein et al., 2011). The complexity and challenges that occur during adolescents predisposes teens to developing an eating disorder. The period of adolescence is one of intense change, which can bring with it a great deal of stress, confusion and anxiety (Allen, Byrne, Oddy & Crosby, 2013). According to Wade, Keski-Rahkonen and Hudson (2011) 20 million women and 10 million men suffer from eating disorders, including anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, binge eating disorder, and eating disorders not otherwise specified (EDNOS). There are three main categories of eating disorders, anorexia nervosa (AN), bulimia nervosa (BN), and eating disorders not otherwise specified (EDNOS). Individuals with AN loose more weight than what is considered to be healthy for their particular height, age, gender, and development (Allen et al., 2013). In BN individuals binge eat and purge to compensate for the excessive eating. Purging may include induce vomiting or intake of laxatives that lead to bowel

Eating disorders are sweeping this country and are rampant on junior high, high school, and college campuses. These disorders are often referred to as the Deadly Diet, but are often known by their more popular names: anorexia or bulimia. They affect more than 20% of females between the age of thirteen and forty. It is very rare for a young female not to know of someone with an eating disorder. Statistics show that at least one in five young women have a serious problem with eating and weight (Bruch, 25).

Adolescence is a developmental stage, which is not defined merely by age. Some may even argue that many young adults with eating disorders are still in the midst of addressing the challenges of adolescence and indeed adolescent developmental difficulties have been thought to underlie the etiology of anorexia nervosa in particular. The essential features of anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa are consistent across the age spectrum – in terms of characteristic behaviors (dieting, bingeing, purging), specific psycho- pathology (over-evaluation of the self in terms of weight and shape) and non-specific features (low self-esteem, perfectionism, poor interpersonal confidence) (American Psychological Association, 2000). Much of the literature reports combined adolescent and adult case series without separate analysis. This makes it difficult to pinpoint exactly what differences are between children and adults as well as have an understanding of the developmental

With children as early as age 7 showing dissatisfaction with their body, and as young as 9 starting dieting, eating disorders are a serious issue in our society. Taking a look at perceptions, behaviors, and medical issues associated with the disorders of anorexia and bulimia, scholars have tried to categorize and find answers to the problems which certain adolescents suffer. In this paper I focused on the two major eating disorders of anorexia and bulimia.

The aim of this literature review is to describe the main causes of eating disorders among teenagers aged 12 to 18 years old in high schools globally, and to also explain to what extend do some of these causes influence eating disoders. Recent studies have indicated a major increase in the eating disorder habits and body dissatisfaction in adolescence over the past few decades. This crisis seems most prevalent in females`` than males with 20 percent high school females exhibiting poor eating habits and about 60 percent undergone weight loss attempt (Pritchard and Wilson, 2005). Most affected youngsters endeavor various solutions to cope with this dilemma and in most cases, drug and alcohol abuse and suicide are the worst

In America, many teenagers are suffering with multiple eating disorders. Once they begin to monitor what to eat, they tend to perform many exercise routines followed by the lack of not eating, these situations should be alarming to the parent that something is not right. Thus, what can we do to resolve this situation among teens? Parents should first become informed towards the issue which their child is facing and take action immediately to save their child from the dangerous activities. It is important for them to realize that their child is in great danger once they begin to do any of these tasks. Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia Nervosa are psychological problems which mostly affect teenagers and causes them to become conscious about their

Young girls that look up to models have a warped sense of beauty as the models are heavily photo shopped along with being far too thin to be considered healthy. Some other possible factors for developing anorexia “…range from genetic predisposition to advertising, peer pressure, the need and wish to be perfect and much more” (Schwartz, 2011). The need to be perfect can be a major cause for not only developing an eating disorder but also to develop other mental illnesses such as depression. The symptoms of anorexia “… are ultimate attempts to cope with seemingly unmanageable emotions by achieving perfectionism and control” (“Anorexia symptoms and effects”). Some reasons why people do slowly starve themselves and develop anorexia is because

Today every girl wants to be “perfect” or be close to perfect. One of the requirements is to have a nice body. It is easy for any girl to reach this goal by changing their diet. Girls often have to deal with many different issues such as eating disorders, low-self esteem, body image issues and so on. Many of these issues are influenced by all the advertisement on social media. Some girls are not aware of the consequences that they will have to face after “fixing” their bodies. There are different ways teen girls harm their bodies such as eating and then purging which is called bulimia nervosa. Another eating disorder is starvation which is known as anorexia nervosa. Anorexia in teenage girls is very important to be aware of because young women

Eating disorders in children and teens cause serious changes in their health. Eating disorders are characteristics and cause by eating behaviors, also people with this disorder use eating, purging or restructuring with their issues. Eating disorders is divided into three parts as anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, compulsive overeating, etc (Eating Disorders,n.d.).Eating disorders can overlap between and alternate of anorexia and bulimia. Eating disorders around the adolescence, but it can also start in childhood. Girls with bulimia nervosa fall within their normal range of body weight, but to them some girls feel that they are overweight. Almost 25 percent of females have bulimia in their lifetime. There are many celebrities who suffer from eating disorders while coming up in Hollywood or currently battling the disorder. Like, former pop singer/ performer Lady Gaga struggled with bulimia and anorexia while beginning her career. Another singer name Kesha, has recently been treated for an unspecified eating disorder (n.d.). Karen Carpenter, a former singer, died from cardiac arrest at the age of 32, for years she suffer from severe anorexia. Another singer name Demi Lovato, has become one of the most outspoken about her mental issues within her eating disorder (n.d.). Sharon Osbourne, wife of Ozzy Osbourne and former ‘The Talk’ host, Sharon has struggled with bulimia for over 30 years. Another famous daytime talk show host, Oprah Winfrey is a sufferer of disordered eating.

I believe one of the most pressing problems in adolescent mental health as we are getting settled into this new millennium is the eating disorder, anorexia nervosa. According to the DSM-5 (2015), anorexia nervosa is “characterized by distorted body image and excessive dieting that leads to severe weight loss with a pathological fear of becoming fat.” In other words, people who suffer from anorexia nervosa genuinely fear becoming fat so much so that they take drastic measures to achieve their ‘perfect’ body or their desired body. Anorexia nervosa “primarily affects adolescent girls and young women” (2015). This disorder is common in these demographics and is increasingly becoming a problem for young female adolescents. The reason for this is

Adolescence is a period of transition, a period in which body image is an important factor to them. Having a good nutrition is crucial to support the growth of youth and to establish healthy eating habits. What people eat affects how they look, how they feel, and how they can get sick, even to the point of dying. In the period of Adolescence, Ages 11 to about 20, body image is important to them, how people see them and how they look. Many people do not know what an eating disorder is, and they do not even know what it can do to someone. Some eating disorders that can affect the physical self of a teenager are obesity, binge eating, anorexia, and bulimia nervosa. Eating disorders affect millions of teens around the world, they are most common in a culture whose focus is on weight and body image, and can affect male or females, races, and ethnic backgrounds.

In recent years, there have been growing concerns regarding the prevalence of eating disorders in adolescents. With noticeable occurrence of eating disorders in the younger age groups, many are concern if preventive measures are adequate or accurately target the main cause of eating disorders. As such, assessing which is the main cause of eating disorder development in adolescence is the purpose of this paper. The three common causes found in literature to relate to the development of eating disorders in adolescents include Media, Peer and Family All three factors are shown to initiate body dissatisfaction in teens and set unrealistic expectations of a socially constructed ideal physique thus, increasing the significance of abnormal eating habits in teenagers. By weighing the three causes in terms of the level of relative pressure faced by adolescents using literature reviews, an enmeshed family is found to be the primary cause. Another interesting finding is that media contrary to what most people thought to be the main cause has inverse relations to the idea of creating body dissatisfaction as adolescents with prevailing body indisposition may turn to media sources for dieting ways and not vice-versa. Hence, a direct cause in adolescents developing eating disorders by media is unclear and prompts further research on this area.

The initial step I took in my search for books on my topic was by writing into Deakin library home page search engine: ‘eating disorders teenagers.’ I was then able to narrow down the results by clicking onto the books only selection on the left hand side of the page. As I was searching from home, I clicked on the Internet option over the physical book. By clicking onto the Ebook Library (owned titles) under the ‘status’ category, it opened up another window directing me to Deakin library’s login services. After typing my username and password in, I was able to view the full record of the book. By clicking onto the contents category at the top of the page, I was able to successfully obtain the front

Teenagers are more susceptible to eating disorders and most often, the stories you hear about eating disorders are about someone's experience as a teenager. There are many reasons to why teenagers develop eating disorders and one of which is because they “preoccupied with their bodies, which are growing and changing.” Teenagers are usually not very be pleased with how their bodies are changing, especially if it’s a teenage girl who might feel she is “fat” or needs to diet. An uninformed teenager might think that resorting to eating less or not at all is a good idea as they are not informed of the consequences that action could have on their body, their family, and their friends. Another reason to why a teenager might develop an eating disorder is stress. At this age, teens are introduced to stress and they might not know how to cope with all of it. Also, sports can introduce bad eating habits. “Teens who take part in sports often diet to keep their weight down, and their dieting can go too far.” (Ambrose, 23)