Anorexia
If your child is struggling with anorexia, they will go to extreme lengths to prevent weight gain. In essence, this serious mental health condition causes your child to starve themselves. They will not eat enough food and/or exercise too much.
Although it is not known exactly what causes anorexia is rooted in deep emotional issues such as anxiety and depression. In fact your child may feel to be worthy of love or appreciation they need to keep weight off.
Often caused by factors such as social media teaching them to place value on looks, they feel under pressure to look a certain way. They dont feel as though they can live up to expectations and put pressure on themselves to be perfect.
The distorted image of their bodies they possess means they think they are too fat even when they're underweight. They may have been criticised at some point for their body shape or weight. They need to feel in control and have feelings they do not know how to cope with or how to talk about it.
It is not always easy to identify if they are struggling with anorexia but it will affect their behaviour and there are signs to look for including their weight and height being lower than expected for their age.
- Dry skin
- Headaches
- Tired
- Stomach pain
- Avoid hugs
- Mood swings
- Bad breath
- Avoid eaing with people
- Wear baggy clothes
- Miss meals
- Dizzy spells
- No energy
- Always exercising
- Hair loss
- Hide themselves away
- Stopped periods