Veterans in the field of eating disorders treatment have long acknowledged that child eating disorders, as well as eating disorders in adolescents, have become increasingly common in recent years, and reports released from the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Archives of General Psychiatry confirm the observations of the community with startling figures.
In November 2010, the American Academy of Pediatrics released a clinical report estimating that 0.5 percent of adolescent girls in the United States have anorexia nervosa, while 1 to 2 percent meet criteria for bulimia nervosa. In addition to acknowledging the heightened incidence of eating disorders in males of all ages, "Identification and Management of Eating Disorders in Children and Adolescents" also detailed increasing prevalence of eating disorders in young children, citing findings from an Agency of Healthcare Research and Quality analysis that found hospitalizations for eating disorders in children less than 12 years of age increased by 119 percent from 1999 to 2006.
Data released from the Archives of General Psychiatry earlier this year further support the rising prevalence of eating disorders and their associated behaviors in the adolescent population. The study, titled "Prevalence and Correlates of Eating Disorders in Adolescents," found that nearly one in 60 adolescents would qualify for an eating disorder diagnosis such as anorexia, bulimia or binge eating disorder.
Even the eating disorders treatment community, in which many professionals had anecdotally observed the rise in eating disorders in adolescence and childhood and anticipated official findings in support of their predictions, was startled by these findings. Professionals have since been inundated with queries from parents seeking the surefire answer to the million-dollar question: "How can I 'eating-disorder-proof' my child?"
In other words, parents want to know what they can do to ensure that their child or teen doesn't
develop an eating disorder, body image disorder or related illness.
Unfortunately for parents, the complexity of eating disorders -- with biological, psychological and sociological underpinnings -- means that there is no silver bullet that will ensure that a child doesn't develop the illness. However, I generally emphasize two critical strategies to help parents support healthy eating habits and a positive body image in their kids and safeguard against the development of an eating disorder:
In general, parents need to know that their attitudes, values and actions do not cause eating disorders, body image disorders or related illnesses. But parents can help their kids cultivate healthy attitudes toward food, body and weight by striving to be positive role models for them and avoiding negative messages about food and body image.
Learn more about eating disorders and treatment options available here.
Follow Kenneth L. Weiner, M.D., FAED, CEDS on Twitter: www.twitter.com/EatingRecovery
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I suspect that many other women could benefit from a dietary change, especially if they come from families with a history of metabolic syndrome/insulin resistance as we do. On a high-sugar, high-grain, low-fat diet (as many of us were raised to believe was healthy and essential if we wanted to stay thin), we are literally starving ourselves. No wonder we develop cravings and become binge eaters. Then we are berated for our lack of self-control, adding to the vicious cycle.
I am so grateful that my daughter has finally taken my advice and changed her diet. She is a happy, healthy, confident young woman.
As a parent who is helping other parents to cope with eating disorders in their children I am very happy to hear you say, "In general, parents need to know that their attitudes, values and actions do not cause eating disorders, body image disorders or related illnesses."
I am curious about how you see a "war on obesity" in this country, without children and teens predisposed to or struggling with eating disorders becoming collateral damage of obesity prevention. Can you please share your ideas on that?
Thank you,
Becky Henry, Author of: "Just Tell Her To Stop: Family Stories of Eating Disorders" and parent coach at Hope Network
No, this is not a high income problem. It is a mental illness, it runs in families along with other problems such as anxiety, autism, depression, and ADHD. This degree of perfectionism is an anxiety problem-it doesn't come from the families, it comes from within the sufferer. In general, families plagued by mental illness do not tend to be high income, as you would imagine. The problem is that the media has focused on celebrities and altered the way we see eating disorders and the general public just hears a very strange version of this problem.
As a result, women have toyed with their food intake, and poured billions of dollars into the companies proclaiming to facilitate their efforts. And they've gotten fatter, and been lead down a path of psychological chaos that, tragically, has become the American female norm.
As corporate greed intensifies and advertising becomes more omnipresent (and masquerading as fact, "news", and what we come to believe are our own organic opinions), it should come as no surprise that the talons of body weight obsession have reached our children, and even our men.
The only real solution to the so-called "obesity epidemic" is too difficult for a thoroughly brainwashed and corporate-ruled society to comprehend: give up weight watching, period.
America *is* an eating disorder. Let's stop obsessing over our bodies, and maybe we'll have a chance in hell of living peacefully in a world of food. And let's stop making "being fat" a daily horror story by treating fat people with respect. Maybe then, a nation wouldn't so intensely fear GETTING fat, and would feel less of a need to "watch their weight".
- Kim Brittingham, author of "Read My Hips: How I Learned to Love My Body, Ditch Dieting and Live Large"
The underlying problem isn't that people "watch their weight." It is the fact that America has the largest and most abundant supply of food, the world over. Going into a grocery store and taking one look around should confirm this statement. "What do I eat today?" When an individual has choices that number into the thousands for a simple meal, why wouldn't there be obese people? No one asks where there food came from. No one asks how many miles it traveled to their plates. No one asks under what conditions was the food grown. And most certainly, and of utmost importance, no one asks whether or not the food they are consuming is good for them.
THESE are the problems that need to be fixed.
Our nation no longer fears getting fat. Unfortunately, that time has come and gone. Now, the primary fear is having to do something about it.
Seriously?
If our nation no longer fears getting fat, then explain the THRONGS of people handing over their hard-earned money for weight loss products. Explain why you or anyone else could walk into any Weight Watchers meeting across the country and see dozens of non-obese members in attendance -- NONE of whom have reached their "goal weight". Explain the surveys of American women wherein the majority claim they'd be willing to sacrifice several years of their lives in exchange for magical guarnteed thinness.
YOU tell the parents of anorexics whose little girls starved themselves, withered and died because they were afraid of getting fat, that our nation no longer fears it. Tell them that the media doesn't encourage a fear of fat, that the diet industry doesn't use that fear against us to pick our pockets.
No longer afraid of getting fat, Mader24?
We're terrified.
way back when, long before google, huffpost and the many excellent resources, we were alone. i managed to actually look up in books my symptoms and self-diagnosed. time passed, my body rebelled against the lack of food, and my weight ballooned.
decades have passed, and i am at a healthy, somewhat slender weight. however, my perception of body image, not as reliable as it should be, so for a refresher, i get on the scale.
eating disorders, be they of too much food or not enough, linger and destroy. we need to eat, and there is enormous pleasure derived from doing so, but the intake, or avoidance of, food are not what should guide our lives.
good luck to all out there, support systems and sufferers.
What?? If by "diet" you mean some crazy fad diet that is dangerous, then maybe I agree. If you mean consistently feeding your kids a low sugar, high vegetable, small frequent portion diet, then I totally disagree. That's what all parents should be trying to instill in their children.
Warmly, Dr. Deah Schwartz, leftoverstogo.com