Eating disorders in Children - Symptoms, Causes

                                                                                         

Eating disorders are illnesses that cause severe changes in eating behaviors and related thoughts about body image. The two main types of eating disorders are anorexia nervosa or anorexia, and bulimia nervosa or bulimia. However, many children affected do not fit all of the requirements for these specific disorders. Like adults, eating disorders in children are usually a combination of factors - physical and emotional. On one hand, dieting in young children is instrumental in eating disorder development; on the other hand, it can be a method of weight control for obese children.

It is a disturbing fact that eating disorders in children, such as anorexia, has been diagnosed in children as young as four. The development of Anorexia usually appears during the teen years and affects mostly girls who generally have less body fat than boys. Eating disorders in children can slow down their growth, puberty, and in girls their breast development.

Children aged between fourteen to fifteen begin to suffer children's eating disorder and this may hit the highest point at the age of eighteen. Girls in their adolescent years discover themselves suffering from children's eating disorder and the incidence among boys too seems to be on the rise.

Eating disorders begin when the negative thoughts and feelings a child has about food and their body image disrupt normal daily activities and functions. Anorexia nervosa drives children to starve themselves to be thin and lose unhealthy amounts of weight. Children suffering from Bulimia find the urge to binge and vomit causing harmful weight fluctuations. The two eating disorders both include compulsive exercise. Compulsive exercise is one of the cues for parents to be aware of with eating disorders.

Events that result in emotional or psychological trauma predispose a child to develop eating disorders. It was noted that children who were brought up in dysfunctional families were more prone to acquire the disease than those children raised in loving environments were. This is also true in cases where children are raised in environments where feelings are not allowed to be expressed. In both settings, children's emotions are bottled up prompting them to turn to food for comfort or to help them deal with what they are feeling. They might latch on to food and eating to release their pent up anger, frustration, sadness, hurt, fear, feeling of abandonment and pain.

Teenagers who have eating disorders are at high risk from various other conditions such as chronic fatigue and pain for no apparent reason, insomnia, neurological disorders, depression, anxiety and many more diseases. So why do children suffer from eating disorders? It is generally thought to be the result of low self esteem, wanting to look like a particular person such as a model, anxiety, trying to cope with a particular situation, identity crisis, etc.

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