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Changing the World One Teen at a Time

Parents often mistake an eating disorder for being a problem about food.  “My son thinks he’s fat!  He only eats sweets and carbs.” It is a problem with the way teens eat food, but the reason they eat that way has more to do with how their brain now defines food as bad for them.  This means that getting them to eat more in the case of the anorexic or bulimic for example is not the answer.

What is an eating disorder?

Eating disorders are really mental health disorders. The pattern of eating is obsessive-like to meet the need of the desired body image outcome or compulsion whether that is to be thin, or rid of excess calories that have been eaten.  Offering food to the person with an eating disorder like anorexia is like offering arsenic to a person on the street. You wouldn’t expect the person on the street to accept arsenic to eat and neither does the person with the eating disorder accept the food. Food is poison to the anorexic and so it makes sense that they don’t eat it.  Another way to understand the mind altering effects of eating disorders is the rail thin person who still thinks they are fat despite bones being clearly visible.  Their brain is playing a trick on them that cannot be broken by a loved one stating, “but your sooooo thin!” 

Other variations of eating disorders (e.g. the athletic triad)are caused by a huge difference in the huge amount of exercise a person does especially with competitive sports and the small amount of food they eat .  Some (e.g. Bulimia Nervosa) may eat a lot of food and then feel so guilty and bloated after that they must rid of the food or the food’s calories, while yet another group (e.g. compulsive eating disorder and obesity) eat as though the food were their drug of choice they crave. The way an alcoholic craves alcohol. Because it’s not just about the food, but the meaning the food takes on, it is important not to simplify eating disorders to just getting them to eat or not eat depending on which eating disorder they have.

Associated mental health issues are common

Eating disorders can have other mental health problems associated with them. You can be so focused on the eating disorder you miss the obsessive compulsive disorder where they excessively dwell on certain things like weight, cleanliness or grades all being done to extreme.  Others may do self-injurious behavior like cutting, burning or picking seen especially with bulimia nervosa and finally depression can potentially be seen with almost all the eating disorders.  Here the eating disorder offers a way to cope or handle the underlying depression and therefore some control over some aspect of their lives.

How do you treat eating disorders?

1. A multidisciplinary team, which is fancy language for there are a lot of specialties involved to help your teen get better.

• Medical clinician
• Nutritionist
• Mental health worker
• Social or case worker (especially if there are concerns about being hospitalized or obtaining outpatient or inpatient special services). 

2.  Support

It is important to seek  various types of support whether mental health, friends, school, other parents who are going through this condition or ideally a combination because it will enable you to see the light at the end of the tunnel.  Teens do get better, but they need strong support systems and so do you.

3.  Patience

There are several ups and downs before someone gets better. The average number of times it takes a smoker to quit smoking is eight. If caught early eating disorders are very treatable so speak up. If your gut is telling you something is wrong (e.g. your teen seems to be cold more than others, their hair is falling out, they seem cranky or irritable, they are wearing bigger clothes, started a special diet like cutting sweets, in the case of girls skip periods or you actually notice weight loss) act on it by making an appointment with their medical clinician to get the facts of their story and their vital signs checked. 

Eating disorders are bad coping mechanisms. Your teen needs the skill to cope with whatever stress they are experiencing whether that stress occurred years ago or recently.  Never think that getting your teen to eat a steak or avoid junk food is the way to treat an eating disorder. This will only prevent you from getting the treatment they need in a timely manner.

To read more about eating disorders check out Something fishy.

Related posts:

1. Be Body Positive Day!
2. Post-traumatic Distress Disorder
3. Body Dysmorphic Disorder 101
4. 4 Skills For ED Teens To Eat Better For The Holidays
5. The Reality of Mental Health