Mental & Emotional Health

Eating disorders afflict millions of people in the United States. Thousands of these individuals will die from them each year. It may seem to be a funny obession when we hear kids talk about “losing ALL my weight” or “eating like a bird”, etc. Like any other addiction, eating disorders multiply like mushrooms in the secrecy of the dark. Those places can be in the bathroom, in the bedroom, in the kitchen after everyone else has gone to bed, etc.

Parents must be alert to the first warning signs of any eating disorder. Here are the four eating disorders that we are going to be discussing:

Anorexia,
Bulimia,
Binge Eating Disorder,
Compulsive Overeating.

I am not going to go into detail on any of these in this particular blog because there is far too much to discuss. This initial information is general in nature but vital for your bank of information.

You may be a parent who is seeing the signs of one of these eating disorders in your daughter. Girls are more vulernable to the eating disorders but an increasing amount of men are joining their ranks currently.

You may be a friend who knows someone at the office or just on a friend basis who has one of these secret eating problems. There is a lot of information to be had and dependent on how severe or how advanced the disorder is, there is help. Sometimes with encouragement and information an individual can turn his or her situation around. More times than not, however, professional help is required. There are facilities where help is available and these eating disorders can be reversed. Lives can be saved, but time’s a-wasting so let’s talk.

Anorexia and Bulimia are classified as starvation eating disorders. Binge Eating Disorder and Compulsive Overeating are referred to as excessive eating disorders. Studies have shown that both groups of individuals have an emotional link that is missing. It may be missing from childhood or from the teen years. For girls, the most influential parent figure is a dad. Many times there was an excessive amount of criticism and ridicule from a dad that left a girl feeling unloved, not-good-enough, and dispondent. Unfortunately, this lack of emotional acceptance followed this dear girl as she slipped into further and further into eating disorders.