Eating Disorders: A Teenage Girls' Epidemic
According to The Renfrew Center Foundation for Eating Disorders (RCFED), as many as 24 million Americans currently struggle with an eating disorder. Even more concerning? Almost all of these cases are young women. The RCFED’s troubling report indicates that 90 % of the 24 million who suffer from this potentially fatal disease are females between the ages 12-25.
Now, millions of America’s parents are panicked and worried that their daughter could be among the millions of young women in danger of losing their life, and they should be. According to the Public Health Service’s office in women’s health, anorexia nervosa, perhaps the most devastating eating disorder of all, is currently ranked as the third most common chronic illness in adolescent girls. With millions of teens suffering from a potentially fatal mental illness, the question on America’s mind is: What is the cause of this plague that is overwhelming affecting our nation’s youth?
Most Common Types of Eating Disorders Among Teenage Girls:
⦁ Bulimia Nervosa
⦁ Atypical Anorexia Nervosa
⦁ Binge-eating disorder
⦁ Purging Disorder
⦁ Night Eating Syndrome
An eating disorder can manifest itself in young women for a variety of reasons. Biochemical factors, mental illness, and our culture’s twisted perception of the ideal female form all play a role in the development of dangerous eating habits. Truthfully, even the leading experts can’t agree on the main cause of an eating disorder. However, mental health professionals can identify a number of factors that may increase a young girls likelihood of developing unhealthy eating patterns.
Evidently, even leading experts don’t know the primary cause of eating disorders, or even if such a single cause even exists. However, mental health professionals can accurately identify some factors that may increase a young girl’s likelihood of developing an eating disorder.
Despite popularly held beliefs, eating disorders rarely have anything to do with one’s obsession to be skinny. In fact, eating disorders are mostly not a choice at all; rather, they are merely symptoms of a deep-rooted and underlying psychological issue. The ambiguity doesn’t stop there, according to eating behavioral experts, it is often impossible to tell whether or not a person suffers from an eating disorder or not.
While the misunderstood nature of an eating disorder may only add to a parent’s worry, Having in-depth knowledge of their daughter may be the most effective and practical form of prevention.
ATTENTION PARENTS: If You Suspect Your Daughter Suffers From An Eating Disorder, Act Now!
If you are the parent of a teenage girl who has, or you feel as though could develop an eating disorder, it is urgent that you seek help for them immediately. While this condition is very serious, it also highly treatable. It is critical to intervene as early as possible, however. If an undiagnosed or untreated eating disorder goes ignored, it is all the more possible your daughter will suffer from life-long, and even potential consequences.
Most importantly, it is critical for you to intervene as early as possible. If an undiagnosed or untreated eating disorder goes ignored, it is all the more possible your daughter will suffer from life-long, and even potentially fatal consequences.
According to the leading experts on eating behaviors, the safest and most effective way to treat a mental health disorder as severe as an eating disorder is residential treatment. Of course, choosing to send your child to a strange place for months at a time may be the most difficult decision a parent in your position has most likely ever made. Having said that, it is also a decision that provides your child with the best chance of a full recovery, and most importantly, the best chance they have of living a long and fulfilling life.
The process of evaluating wilderness programs, therapeutic boarding schools or residential treatment centers for troubled teenagers is probably one of the most difficult things a parent will have to do. You may wish you had a crystal ball to help you predict which program will be the most beneficial to your child. At Turning Winds, we understand how overwhelming it can be. We are here to help you find the best place for your child, whether that is here, at home, or elsewhere.
Turning Winds Academic Institute Is A Residential Treatment Center Expert In Treating Eating Disorders
Turning Winds Academic Institute is a therapeutic boarding school in Montana that provides help for troubled teens and their families with an exceptional degree of success. Here, you’ll find the benefits of a wilderness program, a therapeutic boarding school, and a residential treatment center (RTC), all in one safe, beautiful, and peaceful location. Our clinical, educational, and operations staff are among the best in the country and share a passion for helping young people in crisis. But more specifically, our therapeutically certified staff is well-versed in providing therapeutic restoration for girls who suffer from an eating disorder.
