Eating-Related Disorders In Teenagers

Many people are unaware of the background of eating disorders. Women are more likely than men to develop an eating disorder and they usually develop in childhood before the age of 20 (Ross-Flanigan 1). Women as well as men can develop an eating disorder; it is just more likely for a woman to develop one. Eating disorders are usually developed in adolescent or childhood years when a person is influenced the most. Also “Eating disorders are psychological conditions that involve overeating, voluntary starvation, or both. Anorexia nervosa, anorexic bulimia, and binge eating are the most well-known types of eating disorders” (Ross-Flanigan 1). Many people assume that an eating disorder is when a person staves themselves; they do not realize that it can involve overeating as well. Some eating disorders also involve purging, but not all. People with an eating disorder fear gaining weight even when they are severely underweight. They do not lack an appetite (Ross-Flanigan 1). These people are

Anorexia is an eating disorder that struggles with the fear of gaining weight and refuses to be healthy. Another eating disorder is Bulimia, which is when you overeat followed by forced vomiting and excessive exercise. Binge Eating is one of the most common eating disorders along with Anorexia and Bulimia, Binge eating is when you lose control over one’s eating. All of these common eating disorders all suffer from guilt or depression. “Individuals with bulimia and binge eating eat large amounts of food to reduce stress” (CEDC). They also could have risky behaviors, such as dealing with drugs or alcohol or even death. People with Anorexia or Bulimia are very concerned with being overweight or in other words fat.

In certain cases, some adolescents develop an eating disorder. They forget that being healthy is the most important thing during this time of their life. A lot of adolescents go through puberty and if they do not eat properly, it can cause harm to their growth. In the movie, Regina wanted to lose 3 pounds. She did not eat and decided to only eat the protein bars that Caty gave to her. Regina thought the protein bars would help her lose weight. However, adolescents do not know that a healthy diet and exercise can actually help them lost weight. Instead, adolescents choose to become anorexic or bulimic. Anorexia is when an individual “voluntarily undereat and overexericis, depriving their vital organs of nourishment” (Berger, 2008, p. 459). The National Institute of Health states that “Young people with anorexia nervosa, for example, have difficulty maintaining a minimum healthy body weight. Anorexia affects one in every 100 to 200 adolescent girls and a much smaller number of boys” (National Health, 1999). Bulimia

It has been found that eating disorders are most common in the western and industrialized culture where food is abundant. This is because these individuals attach a lot of importance to their physical appearance and are willing to do anything to get the dream figure. An eating disorder is not just watching what one eats and exercising on a daily basis but is rather an illness that causes serious disturbances in eating behaviour, such as great and harmful cutback of the consumption of food as well as feelings of serious anxiety about their body shape or mass. They would start to stop themselves to go out anywhere just so that they could work out and burn all of the calories of a meal or snack that they had scoffed earlier. Two of the most common eating disorders are anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa. The regular description of a patient with either disease would be a youthful white female, with an upper social standing in a predictably socially competitive environment.

Many children and adolescents not only express dissatisfaction with their figure, shape and weight, but also exhibit disordered eating behavior, such as binge eating (eating a large amount of food with a sense of lack of control), food restriction, laxative abuse and vomiting. For children and adolescents, eating disorders can overlap in many instances. As an example, some children alternate between periods of anorexia and bulimia. Eating disorders typically develop during adolescence or early adulthood. However, research has shown that they can start in childhood, too. Females are much more vulnerable. Only an estimated 5% to 15% of people with anorexia or bulimia are male. With binge eating, the number rises to 35%

Even if some girls were not classified as having an eating disorder 44% of adolescent girls believed they were heavy and 60% were exercising excessively trying to lose weight. (Katzman et al. Pg. 287). Anorexia and Bulimia nervosa are deemed as medical illnesses or used to describe a psychological disorder by of self-induced starvation in order to become thin. People that have either of these illnesses have an excessive fear of gaining weight although they differ in their causation. Anorexia is when the person starves themselves for days without eating and Bulimia is recurrent binge eating, followed by vomiting, purging, fasting, the use of laxatives, diuretics, and over exercising. Sadly they both cause great harm to the human body.

Anorexia nervosa as stated in the Webster dictionary is a voluntary weight loss of at least twenty-five percent of body weight. The dramatic change in thinness may lead to other health problems such as cessation of menstruation. Another popular eating disorder is bulimia. Bulimia, as stated in the Webster dictionary, is an eating disorder characterized by binges, purges with laxatives, and self-induced vomiting. Some people have alternating patterns of the two problems. A prolonged period of either eating disorder can result in serious health problems or in severe cases death. In today’s society more and more adolescence feel the pressure to be perfect, to be thin. Anorexia and bulimia is the leading types of disorders that adolescences face.

The two most common eating disorders are bulimia nervosa and anorexia nervosa. Both disorders, primarily affect young women, therefore the majority of the research on eating disorders has been done with women subjects. The onset of bulimia is between adolescence and early adulthood while the onset of anorexia is between early and late adolescence. Not only is the onset different but the disorders are unique. Bulimia nervosa is characterized by loss of control over eating which leads to food binges. These episodes are interspersed with episodes of purging, such as vomiting or laxative abuse, to keep weight down. The goal of anorexia is also to keep weight down , but to a

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

What is the definition of an eating disorder? Why does it affect so many of American young teens? Many individuals would believe that an eating disorders are a fad diet or an experiment to lose weight, but they are serious complex disorders that can take many years to recover from. Per statics eating disorders affect five percent of women and one percent of men in the United States. The South Carolina Mental Health Department reports that five to ten percent of girls with eating disorders will die within ten years of having the disease ("Eating Disorder Statistics," 2006). Individual whom is concern about their body imagine and low self-esteem the individuals will turn to food by over eating or not eating at all. Moreover, Doctors and Scientist have shown that eating disorder is a mental illness that individuals develop over an extend period.

There are a lot of resources to get food if it is needed by an adolescent such as the school lunch programs, but when they are depressed, eating is a new challenge and adolescent nutritional status is affected by their mental health and depression. Parents and peers are not always aware of what is going on to the adolescent and the depressed adolescent rate can decrease starting with them. When I was a senior in high school, I had fallen in a deep depression that caused me to starve myself. Being depressed took a turn for the worst when I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism but I had all of the symptoms for hyperthyroidism. I had lost 20 pounds and continued to not eat simply because I was not

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.

Bulimia, known as Bulimia Nervosa, is a deadly eating disorder in which an individual believes they are fat or overweight. Those individuals lose weight through unhealthy and dangerous methods. The overall desire to be thin and accepted appears to be the main cause of Bulimia. The attitudes about diet and appearance expressed by parents can be a factor. Teens may temporarily become slightly overweight and parents who react negatively may cause their children to become fearful or anxious about the way they look. It has been discovered that female teens have a strong desire to please their father and when he is rigid, emotionally distant, demanding and a perfectionist, this may cause a very low self-esteem or self-worth in his teenage

In July, 2014 an education article was written by Michael W. Roberts, DDS, MScD and Travis M. Hicks, DDS, MS called “Warning Signs”. Both show similar research interests in the risks and the management of adolescents with eating disorders. The funding provided was supplied by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Dentistry. The ultimate goal of this research was to educate dental professionals on anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa and how to identify the predisposing factors.

There are many kinds of psychosocial disorders that deal with deferent things. Some psychosocial disorders are genetic and some people just pick up from everyday life. Teens can pick up disorders from high school and form our popular media. The media plays a huge roll on what teens do to their life. The media tells teens what they should eat, what size teens should be, and what is okay to wear. Media is mostly worried about what people, mostly celebrities, look like. Teens see a tiny model; teens see that as being attractive. The teen that saw the tiny model attractive would start to starve them self to become that skinny or what is known in the psychology world as anorexia.