Anorexia is an epidemic amongst the population of teenaged females in the United States. Parents need to understand the disease, know how to spot warning signs, and learn about treatment options if they are dealing with a teenaged daughter with anorexia nervosa.
WHAT IS ANOREXIA?
Anorexia is defined as the refusal to maintain a healthy body weight. Anorexia nervosa is characterized by an intense fear of weight gain and eating. Bulimia is a similar eating disorder, characterized by binging and purging food because of the intense fear of gaining weight. Many people with eating disorders suffer from both anorexia and bulimia.
KNOW THE WARNING SIGNS
There are several behaviors and clues to look out for if you suspect that you teenaged daughter has an eating disorder. Here are some things to look out for:
- She skips meals, or eats very sparingly when she does eat.
- She will not eat in front of other people.
- She eats food in ritualistic ways, such as by cutting foods into very small pieces and chewing excessively.
- She is constantly making excuses so that she will not have to eat, such as telling you that she has an upset stomach or that she just ate with a friend.
- Eating habits change drastically. For example, she may eliminate any sweets from her diet or stop eating fats and meats.
- She begins to obsess over food labels and calorie content in foods.
- Becomes very depressed and upset with herself after eating a large or normal-sized meal.
- Excuses herself to the bathroom after eating, possibly to vomit.
- She weighs herself constantly, and becomes very upset about her weight.
- She loses a large amount of weight in a short period of time.
- She changes her style of clothing, wearing baggy shirts and pants either to hide fat or conceal excessive weight-loss.
- She begins taking diet pills or laxatives.
- She exercises compulsively, to the point of exhaustion.
- She becomes withdrawn, loses interest in former activities, and becomes very defensive when questioned about her behavior.
TREATMENT OPTIONS
If your daughter has an eating disorder, or even if you are just suspicious that she is suffering from anorexia, then you must seek professional help. This is not the type of thing that you can handle on your own, and you shouldn’t try to. The first step should be talking to your family doctor, and getting your daughter in for an appointment. From that point, your doctor will probably recommend one of three options: counseling, in-patient treatment, or out-patient treatment.
Counseling might be a viable option if the disorder has not developed very far yet. Your daughter might be able to pull through her anorexia with the help of an experienced professional. Often, counselors will hold private sessions with your daughter, and they will also want to hold family therapy sessions.
Out-patient treatment for anorexia is more involved than just counseling, although counseling is a fundamental component of out-patient therapy. Your local hospital probably offers services of this nature, which often include group counseling, in which your daughter will be able to talk to other people who are suffering from anorexia as well.
In-patient treatment involves sending your daughter to a facility where she will live, usually for at least two weeks, and she will undergo extensive and intense treatment for her eating disorder. The facility will monitor her eating and nutrition, hold group and private counseling sessions, and examine her physical health on a daily basis. This is sometimes the only way to treat the disorder, and some patients will require several in-patient visits before they reach recovery. It is an ongoing process. Once a patient is discharged from an in-patient facility, they will undergo out-patient treatment and counseling to make the transition back to real life easier.
WHAT TO EXPECT
After treatment, you should be prepared for your daughter to relapse, and you should be very conscious of her behavior, so that if she does fall back into the disorder, you can pull her back out as quickly as possible. It is very uncommon that someone with anorexia will be completely recovered after only a short period of treatment, so don’t expect miracles. Be patient.
ANOREXIA AND THE MEDIA
Try to keep your daughter informed about the way the media manipulates us into thinking that skinny is perfect. Teenaged girls are constantly bombarded with images of perfection – in movies, on television, on magazine covers. It is crucial that they understand that those images are unrealistic, and that their own worth is not determined by their dress size. If your daughters become too fixated on obtaining the perfect body, they are more likely to develop an eating disorder on their quest for perfection.
