Eating disorders, one of the main mental health challenges
- Among children and adolescents (especially between 12 and 21 years), eating disorders have become a priority mental illness, according to the World Health Organization. In Pandemia, eating disorders increased markedly among young women, extreme cases increased and the problem remains very present.
Anorexia and bulimia are serious psychological disorders that lead to a change in attitude towards food, weight and self-image. The incidence in girls is higher and is usually attributed to thin people, but eating disorders are more frequent among those who have more body mass.
They can cause serious physical illness and death from malnutrition or suicide. Experts emphasize that disorders at origin are more related to other factors than food. Social, biological, psychological or relational factors are so important that eating behavior is often a consequence, but the focus is elsewhere: "The key is to work on what has happened for the development of the disease, and what has happened normally has nothing to do with food," they say in the report that El Salton has produced. Eating disorder can be accompanied by disorders such as anxiety, depression, or obsessive compulsive behavior.
"The key is to work on what has happened to the development of the disease, and what has happened usually has nothing to do with what has happened to food."
Importance of the family
Early detection, access to specialized treatments and a calm and comprehensive dialogue about what happens are the three fundamental pillars to cope with eating disorders, according to the report of El Salto, in which the importance of the family is highlighted. Because, not only to oneself, but to others, the situation affects them fully, and the family is fundamental to move forward.
Families tend to act in two ways: on the one hand, there are those who deny that children are wrong and that they are wrong ("it seems that not talking about the problem is that there are no problems, but closing their eyes is not a solution"); on the other hand, those who see danger and want to help, but most of the time it is not easy. One of the most common feelings of family members and relatives is the frustration, the difficulty to help, and the confrontations and mutual anger are multiplied, "but we have to know when the child is talking and when the disease, understand that everyone has the same enemy, that they are not enemies".
Experts recommend that families also resort to therapy and professionals.
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