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Children's eating disorders
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Eating disorders are the most complex mental health problems that a child may experience. Eating disorder refers to states in which food and nourishment have an instrumental and manipulative role: food becomes a way to regulate the appearance of the body. Even children can have different kinds of eating disorders that relate to difficulties in the relationships between the child and his/her caretaker. The most common disorders are anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa. Anorexia causes an overwhelming fear of being overweight and a drive to be thin, leading to a restriction of calories that can lead to being underweight. Teens with anorexia may also have bulimia nervosa, with a loss of control and binge eating.The reason behind eating disorders is not exactly known, but it seems to be associated with certain genetic attributes and it is more common in children who have a close relative with an eating disorder. Sometimes it comes from parents. Other factors that make children and adolescents vulnerable to eating disorders are participating in certain activities (especially dance forms like salsa and ballet, skating, athletics, and fashion modeling,), having a perfectionist or obsessive personality, the look-good syndrome and so on.
Treatment of eating disorders is possible but it is slow and difficult and should be overseen by a mental health professional. Parents of such children also need to be compassionate and patient with them. They should try to communicate with their children and not to scold and shout at them for their behaviour. Parents need to identify the disorder in the child and take immediate action. More.
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