Overeating related to tension, poor nutritional habits and food fads are relatively common eating problems for young people. In addition, two psychiatric eating disorders, anorexia nervosa and bulimia, are on the increase among teenage girls and young women and often run in families. In the United States, as many as 10 in 100 young women suffer from an eating disorder. These two eating disorders also occur in boys, but much less often. The child and adolescent psychiatrist is trained to evaluate, diagnose, and treat these psychiatric disorders which are characterized by a preoccupation with food and a distortion of body image.
People frequently ask how to identify symptoms of anorexia nervosa and bulimia.
Unfortunately, many teenagers successfully hide these serious and sometimes fatal disorders from their families for many months or years. At the same time, they suffer from low self-esteem, irrationally believing they are fat regardless of how thin they become. In a relentless pursuit to be thin, the teen starves themselves. This often reaches the point of serious damage to the body, and in a small number of cases may lead to death. The symptoms of bulimia are usually different from those of anorexia nervosa.