What do we need to know as families and what can we do to help our children?
What is Eating Disorder (Anorexia Nervosa)?
Anorexia Nervosa is an eating disorder. The first thing that many people notice is that young people, usually young girls, with this type of disorder eat less and less, change their eating habits, or lose weight. But Anorexia Nervosa is more than just an ordinary problem with eating, it is a serious illness. Bulimia Nervosa is another eating-related problem that is seen mostly in young girls who are beyond childhood. The weight of young girls with this condition may not change much, but their eating habits are not normal. They can diet, drink, and vomit in the same day. It is also seen in behaviors such as not eating meals or extreme dieting. Harmful eating habits or excessive exercise are now also more common in young men. However, since eating disorders are more common in girls, we will discuss Anorexia Nervosa and our young girls in this information.
Why are eating disorders dangerous?
To its extreme, Anorexia Nervosa causes the same physical consequences as severe starvation. With weight loss, muscle wasting and damage to organs, such as the heart, occur. Weight loss may cause cessation of menstrual bleeding, which may lead to infertility in the future, or osteoporosis (weak and easily broken bones) may cause osteoporosis. Perhaps most distressing are the emotional and social effects Anorexia Nervosa has on these young girls. Many do not want to do the things they used to do, they become anxious, sad and depressed because they try to be too nice or perfect. Some of them stay away from their education or develop an obsession with school.
What can we do to protect our children from eating disorders?
It is difficult to control the world around our family. Our young children are faced with many different and mixed messages. Young people who are encouraged to eat healthy at school are also influenced by fast food advertisements. Famous people that young people look up to Almost all of them are weak and judged by their appearance. One of the most helpful things we can do is to pay attention to and control our own eating and dietary habits and the way we talk about the physical appearance of others. Constantly criticizing our own physical appearance or our children's appearance sets a bad example for them and may cause a serious eating problem by encouraging them to follow wrong diet practices.
How can we understand that our child has an eating disorder?
There are many early warning signs of an eating disorder: • It is important to look at whether children and teenagers are on a diet. Many doctors point out that it is dangerous for young people to go on strict diets to lose weight. It is better for teenagers to have a healthy diet and exercise regularly.• Sometimes girls develop eating disorders gradually, this problem starts with trying to eat reasonably, but can gradually turn into avoiding more and more types of food, especially foods such as milk and butter. • If you suspect your daughter is vomiting after meals. • Other warning signs may include exercising repeatedly and secretly, or wearing loose clothing to hide weight loss.
How can we talk to our children about our concerns?
Usually, it's good to approach our children gently and express our concerns about their health and eating habits. These might be things that catch our attention, such as looking tired or avoiding meals we all eat together. This approach is often better than telling them directly that we think they are getting extremely skinny. Just talking about weight can turn into a debate about what the right weight should be. Weight is also a difficult topic because we often receive praise when we look thinner. This makes it difficult to stop the diet even when a healthy weight is reached.
What can we do if we cannot help when our children need help?
If we have a family doctor who knows us well, it is best to discuss the situation with him. . Families should also meet with the doctor and express their concerns about their children, but the young daughter with an eating disorder also needs time to meet with the doctor alone. The doctor will want to examine your daughter and do some blood tests. If your daughter realizes that her health is at risk, this may be enough to stop the diet.
What can we do if our daughter refuses help?
Eating disorders can be very serious and sometimes life-threatening. It is very important to encourage our daughter to see someone for help. This may mean finding outside support. The support of the whole family is very important in this regard. If the family cannot convince the child to get help, we can ask for the help of other people, such as the school's psychological counselor or a close family friend. Do not try to make your child happy by ignoring his behavior or letting him argue with you to avoid getting help. Because the eating disorder becomes more severe, its treatment becomes more difficult.
What can be done to help?
Many healthcare professionals treat young people with eating disorders without hospitalizing them, which is treatment. The format is called outpatients. This form of treatment is most successful if the entire family, including brothers and sisters, participates in and helps with the treatment. This type of treatment involves monitoring weight and physical health.
If your daughter is not in good physical condition or the treatment is not working, hospitalization may be necessary. In this case, the young person may not be able to think rationally due to extreme hunger. This makes it difficult to talk to them. If our daughter is in danger of starving to death, she may be hospitalized without our full permission.
How can we support the treatment as families?
For families, supporting their daughters under treatment can be demoralizing. For girls with this condition, even the thought of reaching a normal or even safe weight is very nerve-wracking. Even though we know that the treatment applied is life-saving, we may react together with our children from time to time. In this case, regular family gatherings with health officials It is important to stay informed about the developments by keeping track. We need to be prepared that our daughter may have difficulty accepting treatment initially. This condition is especially common in children who are hospitalized. We may witness our daughter have a lot of complaints about the hospital staff or the treatment administered, or we may develop concerns that she is not receiving enough psychological counseling. This is because intensive psychological counseling is not of much use in the early stages of the child's refeeding period. Staff will spend most of their time explaining the treatment to the patient and trying to get to know the patient. Individual psychological counseling will be more helpful as the patient recovers physically.
Recovery
After a young woman develops an eating disorder, especially if it is so severe that hospitalization is required. It may take a long time for the patient to recover. The first step is to regain a healthy weight. After this has been achieved, long-term study is still needed to ensure that the patient is happy with a normal weight. Other issues may be present along with the eating disorder, such as depression, repeated anxiety, or trying to be perfect. Complete recovery may take three to five years. Early recognition of the problem, taking action and support of the treatment by the family facilitates better results.
Eating and dieting problems are more common among young people, especially young women, and severe eating disorders have life-threatening and dangerous consequences. As families, we can help our daughters by being aware of their eating habits and providing early help if there is a problem. At the same time, we ourselves need to be careful about our attitudes towards food, diet, and people's appearance.
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