CYP Now - RESOURCES: Know How - How to help children with eating disorders

When you consider our obsession with diets and alarms about obesity, society can seem food obsessed. But don't swallow the myth that eating disorders are necessarily about what we eat, says PJ White. They are really about emotions and feelings

1. Eating disorders are complex problems. They tend not to have a single or a simple cause. Low self-esteem, family relationships, problems with friends, the death of someone special, problems at work, college or at university, lack of confidence, sexual or emotional abuse are commonly listed as possible typical causes. So tread carefully and don't jump to conclusions.

2. The common forms of eating disorder are anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa and various forms of binge eating. There are others. Signs to watch out for include mood swings and rigid obsessional behaviour. There is plenty of information in a useful booklet downloadable from the Eating Disorders Association website, www.edauk.com

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