On this page in the past, we have looked at the problem of difficulties with feeding of various types affecting several age brackets. We also discussed the fact that some of these problems underscore an occult mental health status.
This week, we beam our searchlight on the adolescent female and discuss how to approach a wide-scale issue that gives many parents sleepless nights, anxiety and worry.
In some cases, parents have taken their children from one hospital to another in search of an enduring solution.
In other instances, we have seen young girls transition from the overweight growing child who consumes every edible thing in her field of vision into a finicky young adolescent who has become obsessed with her physical dimensions, body shape and body weight.
As they become more self-conscious and also more self-assured, their parents are, on the other hand, filled with so much anxiety that they often push these anxieties onto the growing girls.
Some are mentally tough enough to resist their parents’ efforts or concerns, while others begin to crave the increased level of attention and seek to take undue advantage of the situation. In between these positions, careful evaluation by a skilled physician often helps to bring out the promoting factors behind the changes in behaviour in ways that might help in reaching a solution.
Investigating anorexia and weight loss in a female adolescent requires a medical, nutritional and psychosocial approach to rule out organic causes while assessing for eating disorders.
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