Eating Disorders in Children - Symptoms, Causes, Effects & Treatment

Each year, thousands of teens develop eating disorders, or problems with weight, eating, or body image.

What is Eating Disorder

Eating disorders are more than just going on a diet to lose weight or trying to exercise every day. They're extremes in eating behavior — the diet that never ends and gradually gets more restrictive, for example. Or the person who can't go out with friends because he or she thinks it's more important to go running to work off a snack eaten earlier.

The most common eating disorders are anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa(usually called simply "anorexia" and "bulimia"). But other food-related disorders, like binge eating, body image disorders, and food phobias, are becoming more and more common.

Anorexia

People with anorexia have a real fear of weight gain and a distorted view of their body size and shape. As a result, they can't maintain a normal body weight. Many teens with anorexia restrict their food intake by dieting, fasting, or excessive exercise. They hardly eat at all — and the small amount of food they do eat becomes an obsession.

Others with anorexia may start binge eating and purging — eating a lot of food and then trying to get rid of the calories by forcing themselves to vomit, using laxatives, or exercising excessively, or some combination of these. Read more about