Teenage Girls and Anorexia

How society influences teens

Everywhere we look these days, we only see beautiful women, skinny and very well dressed. The society today appreciates this more than almost anything at a woman, her appearance. And a slim, curved body is a hit. So there is no wonder why all girls want to be slim. The problem is that this desire kills.

Teenage girls only see on TV supermodels or actresses that have the perfect bodies. So they start eating less, to be more like them. And then they eat less and less until they start to starve themselves. This is called anorexia. It is a mental problem that kills. It has a 16 percent mortality rate and it is the first mental disease that claims so many victims.

Factors in treating anorexia

Surviving this illness is very hard, because it is very difficult to treat it. And even if one survives, the scars he/she may have can be very big and remain for the rest of their lives. Nobody can actually see how important anorexia is and how many young girls suffer from it. Treatment for anorexia should start as soon as possible for hope to exist. Support from family and friend is crucial.

There are lots of places where anorexic people can be treated. Some of these places even have group therapies, where patients come with their families to get help. This kind of therapy should the most progress. Girls started to gain weight, not try to starve themselves again and furthermore even did this in less time than believed.

Spotting anorexia in your family

The best thing to do in case you have a daughter, a teenage daughter is to observe her eating habits. Anorexia has many signs and for a carrying mother it is very easy to tell if your daughter has problems. If this disease is noticed in time, it can be treated and stopped. Most of the anorexic girls have problems concerning their image. They believe that they are not pretty enough, so they could be if they would just loose a little weight, or they think they are too fat, and need to look more like their TV idol or like other girls in school. The only way to get where they want is not to eat. This is the thing that an anorexic can control and be sure, that she will. In time she will loose control and things will start to get from bad to worse, but an anorexic is not able to realize that. When she looks in the mirror, no matter how skinny she is, she sees herself fat. It is a mental problem.

It can get as worse as to the point of lying about everything concerning eating and food. An anorexic will always say that she has eaten earlier, or that she is not hungry, will try to trick you and if forced to eat, she will throw it all up afterward.

If symptoms of anorexia are seen in your child, ask for help as soon as you can. Treatment include both physical and mental help, because the disease hurts the body, but had it’ s roots in the mind.