Measures for Treat Afflicted Teens with Anorexia Nervosa

Every 62 minutes at least one person dies due to eating disorders. About 95% of people that have eating disorders are around ages 13-25. In many countries, people with eating disorders don't get the treatment that is needed. Many people don't think of eating disorders is a major disease or as severe as cancer. Unfortunately, eating disorders are extremely severe and about 2.2 billion adolescents have been diagnosed with a major eating disorder. It has been shown that there are about 30 million people in the United States with eating disorders, no matter their gender or age. One of the main eating disorders in the world is anorexia nervosa. The National Eating Disorders Association defines anorexia nervosa as difficulties maintaining an appropriate body weight for height, age, and stature; and, in many individuals, distorted body image.Many teenagers suffer from this disease and believe that they are overweight and are in need to lose weight. The behaviors of eating disorders can impact your health very seriously and severely. In the past, there hasn't been a lot of advancements in the treatment of eating disorders towards teenagers. Fortunately, there have been some through the years since 2009. It has been proven that the best treatment for teenagers with eating disorder is family-based treatment. Eating disorder is a chronic clinical mental disorder that disrupts the psychological and social development of young people. Throughout research, it has been proven that face to face therapy is a better treatment than group treatments. Family based treatment is a very effective treatment for teenagers who have anorexia. For family based treatments, it has been proven that it is better for the parents to watch what their children is eating instead of have more multi-family settings. Another approach that has been studied is cognitive-behavioral therapy(CBT). Even though CBT is a good treatment for teenagers, a family-based treatment is more efficient. Cognitive-behavioral therapy does not work exceedingly for a long term situation. In the article Recent Advances in psychological therapies for eating disorders it stated that a therapy treatment was found and is called specialist supportive clinical management(SSCM). It has been found that in the beginning of the study, that SSCM was having better outcomes but it had to be long-term for it to work. another treatment is MANTRA which is the Maudsley Model of Anorexia Nervosa Treatment for Adults, this treatment has been compared to CBT but has been found that it is less effective than CBT-E. Unfortunately the treatment for adults with anorexia nervosa is still weak. disordered eating and body image concerns increase the risk for severe weight-related problems. Disordered eating can lead to depression, social functioning, and poorer quality of life. Mobile phone applications can also play an important part of mental health services in teenagers since many adolescents use the internet on a regular basis. There is evidence that shows that mental health interventions have a positive effect on adolescents. It has been studied that online interventions have improving ED related attitudes. There has been a study called Healthy Teens @ School which is a preventative program for eating disorders and obesity in Europe. The program is for students that are 14-19 years old. This study is taken place in Austria and Spain. There is an intervention group and a control group. This study is to compare if internet-based/mobile-based will have an effect on reducing eating behavior. The students that attend the schools that are part of this program all have a survey. The students will learn how to have a balanced eating and exercise habit. Another intervention is the Mind-district platform, each participant has a unique access to the platform. The participant can communicate with the research team if they have any question. They can also communicate anonymously. In this platform there is something called diary function which allows the participant to keep track of their food consumption and physical activities. The StayingFit wanted to increase fruit and vegetable consumption and physical activity and the goal is to develop healthy habits related to nutrition. In the Healthy Teens @ School the students can access it at anytime but should have at least half an hour completed in school. there were some good things about this program but also some challenges. There are some good things that came out of this study, which is that the Healthy Habits has been proven to reduce disordered eating behaviors. The Weight Management has also been proven to support weight loss. A challenge was that this program was only taken place in Austria and Spain and wasn't able to take place anywhere else to help other adolescents. About only 3 prevention programs have reduced eating disorder symptoms. There is a study called the Body Project which is a eating disorder prevention program. In this program there is 2 primary care clinics, the participants were either put to the Body Project group or an educational video control condition. The study had 66 young females of the ages between 13-17. The results showed that participants that were in the Body Project showed decreases in body dissatisfaction and negative affect at post test. The most successful treatments for eating disorder is integrations of mental health & prevention programs in school. There are many risks factors of eating disorder but the main risk factor is dieting dissatisfaction. Other factors are gender, activities that are in need of a good body appearance(boxing, dancing, gymnastics, etc.). Another big factor is media. There was a study that showed that around 2000, 0.3% of young women and 0.03% for males is the average rate of having anorexia nervosa but now less than 50% of anorexia nervosa survivors had recovered and 33% haven't fully recovered. There are inpatient and outpatient treatments. It is better to have prevention efforts when adolescents are in high school or later middle school then when they are older. Teachers can also provide support for people that have eating disorders. Universal preventions can also help towards eating disorders and maintaining a prevention oriented school atmosphere. Many people eating disorders tend to get teased on during school. Coping skills can also be learned throughout school such as instructions to problem-solving. It is best when children or young adults see you eating disorder specialist when they demonstrate behavioral indicators are symptoms of eating disorders. Eating disorders affect 13-15% of young and adult females due depression, anxiety disorders, suicide attempts, etc.

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