GeneralProtecting Your Teen and Their Self-esteem; Dealing With Eating Disorders

We all know how the media portrays the idea of beauty these days. Extremely photoshopped pictures of women make most of us feel like we do not look good enough. This can lead to a ton of problems, specifically eating disorders. Eating disorders are more common in females than in males, but these are quite prevalent in teenagers as well. This can negatively impact their ability to function in the most important areas of their life such as school, work, and personal life. The most common ones in teens are anorexia, bulimia, and body dysmorphic disorder. We have curated a list of treatments to help you get your child out of this situation.

Psychological therapy

The first and foremost way of dealing with such disorders is to help your child get access to psychological therapy. They need to know that they are not alone and that they can overcome this. They will require seeing a therapist on a regular basis in order to get some progress. They will learn new habits and unlearn old unhealthy ones. They will also find more healthy ways of coping with a stressor than giving in to their disorder. Psychological therapy takes a long time and it is a process that you have to trust. They can either be treated with cognitive behavioural therapy, family therapy, or even group therapy. Group therapy is a good option since they will know that there are others out there who feel the same way.

Education for nutrition

There will also be dieticians and nutritionists involved in the treatment method. They will help your child understand how good nutrition can affect their body and how they can manage to eat and sustain a good diet. This will also help them work towards a healthy weight and for them to practice meal planning. They will also give your child some steps to establish a regular eating pattern and to avoid fad diets or binge eating.

Residential treatment

When the disorder gets out of hand and is dangerous for your child’s health. It is best to get them some residential treatment till they have improved a little bit. This is perfect for severe anorexia and body dysmorphic disorder treatment if it does not improve with other therapies over the course of 3 months. They will get comprehensive care in the facility till they are better enough to come back home.

Medications

Medications will not be able to cure an eating disorder, but they will definitely help with comorbid symptoms. They can help a lot when they are combined with psychological therapy. The most common medications given are anti-depressants, especially for anorexia and bulimia. Your child will also require some medicines to help the physical health problems they have suffered due to this disorder. The doctor will definitely prescribe them some vitamins and minerals to help them gain some strength back in their body.

It is not easy to see your child suffering from such a disorder. It is important to get treatment as early as possible so that they stop causing health issues for themselves.

This is a sponsored post