Body Image Issues and Eating Disorders in Teens
Body Image And Peer Pressure
Adolescents usually regard themselves either more or less, than what they actually are. Thus, their body image is either positive or negative which leads them to hardly realize what they are. And all they want to do is just copy others. Thus, it has become a fashion and a passion, to have a sculpted body and attain size zero. To achieve this, they try all kinds of methods they come across without knowing much about these methods, or without bothering to find out the sources of such things.
Girls especially face immense pressure and try their level best to look good and attractive. In such cases, the parents and particularly the mother is responsible to protect her daughter from this delusion of false beauty, by making her understand that health comes first. If unattended, the girl will lose self-confidence and finally slip into depression, as she would be unable to cope.
Awareness About Eating Disorders
It is understandable that at this age, one likes to be noticed. But due to peer pressure, teens indulge in some kind of diet routines without thorough knowledge about it. They don’t know that these are disorders and they are in fact getting sick.
Anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and binge eating disorder are some kinds of eating disorders prevalent amongst teenagers. Anorexia is visible as the person becomes extremely thin (thinner than their normal self) whereas bulimia disorder goes unnoticed, Here, the teen maintains body weight by purging (vomiting), excessive exercise and the like.
Owing to the high expectations from everyone around them, teenagers of today are very conscious about appearing more beautiful and the perception of people around them. They constantly compare themselves with their peers, both in terms of looks and behaviour. But considering the many bodily changes that they experience during this time, ‘looks’ seem to be very important to teens
Most of the time, one’s body is compared to the other (peers) and constant commenting on the body size and shape hurts teenagers. If this continues, the teen goes into depression and ultimately it becomes a medical issue. Hence, all parents should keep a watch on your growing kids, or else they could fall prey to such health issues.