Overview of Eating Disorders in Children - Prevent Eating Disorders in Children

Written by HealthyPlace.com Staff Writer

What Can A Parent Do?

If you've noticed behaviors in your child that may indicate an eating disorder, you should discuss your concerns with your child.

Plan to approach your child in a place that is private and stress free. Be sure you have set aside plenty of time to talk.

Tell your child what you have observed and what your concerns are in a caring, straightforward and non-judgmental way.

Do not focus on food and weight, but instead focus on feelings and relationships.

Give her plenty of time to talk and state how she is feeling. Accept what she says without passing judgment or reacting with anger.

Avoid commenting on appearance. This perpetuates the obsession with body image.

Know that anger and denial are often part of an eating disorder. If faced with these reactions, restate your observations and concerns in a caring way without accusing your child.

Do not engage in a power struggle over whether or not a problem actually exists.

Do not demand change or berate the child or adolescent.

Examine your own feelings about food, weight, body image, and body size. You do not want to convey a fat prejudice or exacerbate your child's desire for thinness.

Do not blame the child for his or her struggle.

How Can Parents Prevent Eating Disorders?

Do not engage in power struggles over food. Do not insist that a child eat certain foods or limit the number of calories your child consumes unless a physician recommends this due to a medical condition.

Encourage children to remain in touch with their appetite. Resist statements like "If you eat now, you'll spoil your appetite" and "There are starving people in Africa, so you had better clean your plate."

Do not use food as emotional comfort for your children; don't try to feed them if they are not hungry.

Explore how your own feelings about body image, body size, and weight have been shaped by society. Discuss with your children how genetics plays a significant role in body size and weight and how detrimental social pressures can be to perceptions of body image.

Do not promote unrealistic ideals involving slenderness and beauty. Make sure that your attitude does not convey to your child that she would be more likeable if she were thinner. Do not allow your children's unrealistic comments about others' weight and body shape to go unchallenged.

Educate yourself and your children about the dangers associated with dieting. Remember that 95% of all dieters regain their lost weight plus more within 1 to 5 years. The vast majority of people will remain thinner if they never diet in the first place. Additionally, dieting slows down one's metabolism, making it easier to gain additional pounds.

Set a good example for your children. Exercise because it feels good and you enjoy the movement of your body. Don't avoid activities such as swimming or dancing just because they draw attention to your body and weight. Don't hide your body shape or size in clothes that do not fit or are uncomfortable.

Teach your children how television, the media, and magazines distort our views concerning the body and do not accurately represent the diverse body types that actually exist. The average American woman is 5'4" tall and weighs 140 lbs., while the average American model is 5'11" tall and weighs 117 lbs. That is thinner than 98% of the women in America.

Promote your child's self-respect and self-esteem in athletic, social, and intellectual experiences. Children who have well-rounded personalities and have a solid sense of self-esteem are less likely to engage in disordered eating and harmful dieting.

Treat boys and girls the same‚ give them the same encouragement, opportunities, responsibilities and chores.

Treatment Of Eating Disorders

While it is often a long and difficult process, eating disorders are generally treatable. Depending on the severity of the disturbance and the physical health of the child or adolescent, an eating disorder may be treated in either an outpatient setting consisting of individual, family and/or group therapy, or, in more extreme cases, in an inpatient or hospital setting.

Individual counseling - Individual counseling usually takes place in a therapist's office for 45-50 minutes, 1 to 3 times per week. It is critical to choose a therapist who has experience working with both children and adolescents, as well as eating disorders. Treatment philosophies will usually take one of three approaches, or, quite often, some combination of them.

Cognitive Behavioral - Cognitive behavioral therapy is a combination of cognitive therapy and behavioral therapy. Cognitive therapy deals primarily with identifying and changing problematic or distorted thoughts and beliefs, such as distorted body images and over emphasis on the importance of thinness. Behavior therapy works to change maladaptive behaviors such as binge eating.

Psychodynamic - The goal of a psychodynamic approach is to help the adolescent come to understand the connections between her past, her personal relationships, her current circumstances and the eating disorder. Psychodynamic theory holds that eating disorders may develop as a way of protecting one's self from anger, frustration and pain one may experience in his or her life.

Disease/Addiction - This model views eating disorders as an addiction or disease similar to alcoholism and is modeled after the Alcoholics Anonymous program.

Family counseling - Family therapy not only benefits the person with an eating disorder, but the other family members as well. Living with a person with an eating disorder can be difficult for all involved. Good family therapy will address the concerns and problems of all the family members as well as teach the family how to assist in the healing of the family member with an eating disorder.

Group therapy - Group therapy may be effective for some, but harmful for others. Some people with an eating disorder are too withdrawn or anxious to effectively interact in a group setting. Others may benefit greatly from the support and acceptance they receive from other group members. It is critical that a group dedicated to the treatment of eating disorders be run by a qualified professional who can gauge individual members' reactions to the group experience.

The Team Approach - For long-term treatment of, and recovery from, an eating disorder a multidisciplinary team approach with consistent counseling and support is essential. The team may consist of a physician, dietitians, therapists, and/or nurses. All of the individuals on the team should be specifically skilled in treating eating disorders.

Medication - Medications may be used to treat a number of aspects of eating disorders including:

• Treatment of depression and/or anxiety that may co-exist with the eating disorder
• Restoration of hormonal balance and bone density
• Encouragement of weight gain or loss by inducing or reducing hunger
• Normalization of thinking process

Hospitalization - People who suffer from extreme anorexia are most often admitted to a hospital or eating disorder treatment center for an extended period of time so they can be stabilized and treated for medical complications. People with bulimia are not usually admitted to a hospital unless their behaviors have developed into anorexia, they need medication to help them withdraw from purging, or they have developed major depression.

Weight Gain - The most immediate goal in the treatment of an anorexic individual is often weight gain. A physician should strictly set the rate of weight gain, but the usual goal is 1 to 2 pounds per week. Initially the person is given 1,500 calories per day and eventually it may go as high as 3,500 calories per day. Individuals may require intravenous feeding if the amount of weight loss has become life threatening and he or she is still unwilling to consume adequate amounts of food.

Nutritional Therapy - A dietitian is often consulted to develop a strategy for planning meals and educate both the patient and the parents.

next: Talking to Your Teen About Eating Disorders: Mother and Daughter
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