Young Children With Eating Disorders on the Rise
According to a report released in 2011 by the American Academy of Pediatrics, the number of children, under the age of 12, who were hospitalized for eating disorders rose 119 percent between the years of 1999 and 2006. This trend suggests that modern kids have a severely distorted view of the ideal body image. Children develop their sense of self-worth and the beginnings of body image early on – between birth and age five. Young children in the U.S. have distorted thinking about eating and food, causing unhealthy and sometimes deadly behaviors.
What Constitutes an Eating Disorder?
People who feel compelled to severely restrict eating or to overeat, to such a degree that their physical and mental health suffers, most likely have some sort of eating disorder. These individuals often have obsessive thoughts about eating and food; they may see themselves as overweight when looking in the mirror even though their bodies are painfully thin. Anorexia nervosa and Bulimia nervosa are the two most common types of eating disorders, but many other types exist and still others are emerging.
Children with Anorexia nervosa exhibit an unrealistic fear of becoming obese. They restrict caloric intake to very unhealthy levels, causing considerable weight loss and, eventually, malnutrition. Unchecked, this psychological disorder can prove fatal.
Bulimia Nervosa is characterized by daily incidents of binge eating, often taking in tens of thousands of calories only to purge them through various methods due to intense feelings of guilt after the episode. Children with this disorder may purge the food by forcing themselves to vomit, taking large doses of laxatives, or crash dieting while exercising to exhaustion in an attempt to burn off the calories and avoid gaining weight.
Contributing Factors
The American Academy of Pediatrics states that pediatricians should pay closer attention to subtle clues indicating that their patients have an abnormal preoccupation with excessive weight gain, calorie restriction, or thinness. While parents may offer some insight, they sometimes contribute to the problem unknowingly. Even pre-verbal children pick up on a mother's anxiety about her body and unhealthy attitudes toward food. Very young children internalize these maternal views and they last well into later childhood and adulthood, if left unaddressed.
Experts blame the media for its part in contributing to the rise in eating disorders because they constantly display unrealistic male and female bodies and imply that these are the norm. However, the change in attitude must happen at home. The underlying causes of eating disorders are highly complex, with numerous studies pointing to a genetic predisposition as well as a home environment that implicitly or explicitly condones the unhealthy behaviors and attitudes.
Early Treatment Offers Best Prognosis
The earlier treatment begins, the more likely the patient is to make a satisfactory recovery. Eating disorders thrive in families, primarily because the mother often has an untreated one herself and has unwittingly influenced her children to share her condition. Treatment works best when conducted early on and as a family affair.
The specialist that sees the child individually may prescribe some medications meant to mitigate the anxiety and obsessive thinking that often accompanies these psychological conditions. These may include anti-depressants like Zoloft or Prozac, but may also include a mood stabilizer, such as lithium.
In addition to a pharmacological approach to treatment, the doctor will schedule regular individual and family therapy sessions. Through family therapy, the parents can experience healing together and gain tools to help their children heal and cope with societal pressures that negatively influence self worth or body image.
First Steps
Concerned parents who suspect their child may have an eating disorder should first consult with the child's pediatric physician. He or she may make a diagnosis right away. In some cases, the doctor may feel that referral to a specialist is in the best interest of the child. Taking this first step as soon as possible will ensure the child receives immediate and appropriate treatment in the event she is diagnosed with an eating disorder.
Questions and Answers
Eating disorders occur most often in young adolescents and teens; however, young children can develop eating disorders as well. Healthcare professionals are seeing a disturbing trend of children as young as age 5 developing eating disorders. While these eating disturbances often seem similar to the anorexia nervosa and bulimia, most commonly found in young teen girls, those occurring at a very young age often have other causes.
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