Getting Your Teen Healthy After An Eating Disorder
2015-04-29 16:38:40 CPCC Blogging Team
Helping Your Kid Overcome Disease And Find Joy
More than ever, teenagers today are being pressured by the media. With the ubiquitous nature of magazine covers featuring airbrushed models (both men and women), celebrities paying people full-time salaries to touch up their “selfies,” and the societal belief that only the most beautiful people deserve to become famous, it is no surprise that the youth of our nation feel pressure to look a certain way.
This has, unfortunately, led to a rise in cases of anorexia and bulimia. If your teen is struggling with an eating disorder, you can help him or her in the following ways.
- Get Vocal: Allow your teen to talk openly about how he or she feels about his or her body. Do not let your teen live in silence, as that can allow self-image issues to fester. Then, if something negative gets said do not be afraid to challenge it. Offer evidence against all negative self-talk.
- Focus On The Positive: Help your teen make a list of everything he or she likes about him or herself. Ensure the list does not just contain physical attributes; encourage more inward reflection.
- Be a Team and Spend a Day Shopping: Go through your teen’s closet with him or her and toss out any clothes that make him or her feel uncomfortable or self-conscious. Take the clothes to a consignment store and sell them. Then take the money from those clothes to buy new outfits that will make your teen feel (not just look) great. Help him or her see clothing as a form of self-expression. Try to discuss what “beauty” means as you go about the task of addressing physical appearances.
You can have a caring team come alongside you and your teen to help you on the path to a healthy life. Contact the Community Presbyterian Counseling Center in San Ramon, California for partners on your journey as you help your teen love him or herself.
Children and Teens