Parenting – and parents’ own relationships with food and their bodies – can have a big impact on how young people feel about themselves and their bodies. Some parental behaviours can encourage body positivity and positive relationships with food, while others may make the development of disordered eating behaviours more likely.
When you greet a friend, family member, or even a stranger, it might feel normal to compliment their appearance. Compliments are usually well-intended: we want the other person to feel good about themselves.
Many young people now take part in ‘clean eating’, a type of diet that involves eating foods considered to be healthy, unprocessed, or without certain ingredients like added sugar or saturated fats. Clean eating is often framed as a health pursuit – a way of eating that is good for the body and mental health.
For young people who have experienced trauma, symptoms of PTSD or unprocessed trauma can underlie eating disorder symptoms, sustaining disordered eating behaviours and, if untreated, acting as barriers to lasting recovery.
Eating disorders are serious conditions that cause harm to the mental, physical, and social lives of young people. There’s no such thing as a “mild” eating disorder and some types of eating disorders can be fatal if left untreated. This means that understanding how to choose good treatment is really important.
Eating disorders are one type of mental health disorder that seem to affect autistic young people more than other people. Young autistic people may show different disordered eating behaviours, such as using food to cope with emotions or placing a lot of their self-value on body shape or weight.
When we think of eating disorders, we usually associate them with Western perceptions of an ‘ideal’ body. For a feminine body, Western ideals typically promote
While eating disorders and social anxiety can be debilitating for young people, the good news is that both disorders are treatable. With the right support, teenagers and adolescents can manage and recover from difficult symptoms and lead fulfilling lives.
It’s normal for young people to have goals that they want to achieve. Aims and targets can help teenagers and adolescents to feel motivated and
Eating disorders usually begin during adolescence, often at the start of a young person’s teenage years. However, in some cases, eating disorders can begin earlier in children as young as 8, 9 or 10. Known as early-onset eating disorders, young children’s eating problems are often similar to those experienced by older adolescents, underpinned by concerns about shape and weight and attempts to cope with difficult emotions.
Peer victimisation, often referred to as bullying, is a type of interpersonal violence or harm that takes place between friends or peers. Peer victimisation can involve physical violence, verbal insults, emotional manipulation, or relational harm, such as spreading rumours or social exclusion.
OCD is a serious mental health disorder that can have a big impact on a teenager’s daily life. However, it is treatable, and with the right support, young people can reach full recovery.
When a young person develops an eating problem, seeking professional support is the first step. It’s very difficult for someone to recover from an eating problem on their own, and treatment and support are crucial for both the young person and their family.
