Mental health concerns are common among young people living in Dubai and the rest of the UAE. Adolescents and young adults may experience a range of mental health disorders, including anxiety disorders, eating disorders, and depression. These conditions affect their well-being, quality of life, and future mental health.
IOPs provide opportunities for focused and comprehensive support that addresses the underlying causes of eating disorders. Young people in IOPs have the space and time to work through the multiple aspects of eating disorders, carefully navigating their complexities. Outside of sessions, they can practice and generalise skills they learn in their daily lives.
Over-exercise can harm the body and cause low mood, mood swings, anxiety, and fatigue. It can be an unhelpful coping mechanism that makes problems worse while avoiding confronting the real causes of emotional distress.
Adolescents and young adults with eating disorders also tend to perceive their own bodies as different to their ‘ideal’ body shape. These ideals are typically unrealistic and unhealthy for most people. In general, women idealise a small body and low body weight, while men may idealise a muscular and lean body shape.
Eating disorders are often thought of as a type of ‘internalising problem’ that is rooted in difficult emotions and unhelpful coping mechanisms. They’re linked to feelings of low self-esteem, perfectionism, and interpersonal problems, traits that may be shaped by parents’ attitudes and behaviours.
Young people with all body shapes and weights can have eating disorders. Eating disorders are complex psychological conditions characterised by harmful attitudes and behaviours, such as restrictive eating, binge eating, and body dissatisfaction. Disordered eating behaviours can happen regardless of a person’s weight or what their body looks like.
While eating disorders are complex conditions, they are treatable. With the right support, young people can recover and enjoy a healthy, fulfilling future. Treatment providers who have experience working with autistic people can adapt therapy sessions and other approaches to ensure that treatment is comfortable and welcoming for each individual.
As with other parts of the Arab world, eating disorders have increased in Saudi Arabia in recent years. The prevalence of eating disorders and disordered eating behaviours is now worryingly high, with studies showing that around 7% of Saudi adolescents and young adults have an eating disorder.
Children learn a lot from their parents through observing, analysing, and adopting their behaviours. This includes eating attitudes and behaviours, whether they are positive or
Understanding the feelings and thoughts that underpin a young person’s disordered eating behaviours is a fundamental part of treatment. This blog offers some information on eating disorders, as self-harming behaviour, co-occurring eating disorders and NSSI, and what it means for young people’s treatment and recovery.
For a long time, eating disorders were thought to mainly affect women. Even in scientific research, fewer than 1% of published papers that relate to
Repeated nighttime binge eating – or eating a lot of food at night – is a type of disordered eating behaviour that can harm a young person’s physical and mental health. It’s also a symptom of different eating disorders, including binge-eating disorder and night eating syndrome.
Finding the right family therapist is essential. There isn’t a single type of family therapy that’s right for every family, and the personality and experiences of a therapist are also important. But finding the right family therapy and therapist can help families restructure and heal, creating resilient family systems that benefit every member.
