By: Olivia Loiacono
Anorexia Nervosa is one of the most well-known eating disorders, along with Bulimia Nervosa and Binge disorder. Anorexia has the highest mortality rate among mental health disorders. Anorexia causes around 10,200 deaths every year as a direct result of the eating disorder. This equals one death every 52 minutes. People with anorexia are also 18 times more likely to attempt suicide than individuals without an eating disorder.
Some warning signs that one should look out for in a loved one are:
–Dramatic weight loss.
–Lying about how much and when they’ve eaten, or how much they weigh.
–Avoid eating with others.
–Cutting their food into small pieces or eating very slowly to disguise how little they’re eating.
–Trying to hide their thinness by wearing loose or baggy clothes.
Now, how do you help someone? Is that even possible? When you are trying to help someone with any sort of mental health disorder, they have to WANT the help to fully recover. Fortunately, when someone with a severe eating disorder is under the age of 18, a parent/ guardian is in control of their treatment.
You may consider exploring treatment options together with your teen. You will want to choose an eating disorder program or a therapist/ nutritionist who specializes in helping teenagers and young adults. Equally important, you’ll want to choose a program that offers tailored, personalized treatment plans, and that is equipped to treat multiple mental health disorders. No single course of treatment will work for everyone, because everyone has different needs
Continuing your plan at home is also extremely important to keep up with the recovery process. Make sure to encourage maintaining a healthy exercise regime( when given permission from the provider to do so), eating/providing nutritious meals, getting your child involved in mealtimes, creating distractions from the food, avoiding criticism and negative talk, showing acceptance for all types of bodies, shapes, and sizes, fostering self-love and acceptance and encouraging intuitive eating.
Though nothing is a quick fix, it will take time, love, and effort to recover/ start recovery from Anorexia but it is possible and there is living proof of survivors. Day by day… meal by meal.
If you or someone you know is struggling with Anorexia or an eating disorder, please contact our psychotherapy offices in New York or New Jersey to talk to one of our licensed professional psychologists, psychiatrists, psychiatric nurse practitioners, or psychotherapists at Arista Counseling and Psychotherapy. Contact our Paramus, NJ, or Manhattan, NY offices respectively, at (201) – 368-3700 or (212)-722-1920 to set up an appointment. For more information, please visit https://www.counselingpsychotherapynjny.com/
References
https://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/statistics/#general-eating-disorder-statistics
https://www.nhs.uk/mental-health/conditions/anorexia/symptoms/
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