Teens Talk About Body Image And Eating Disorders

Teens struggling with an eating disorder or negative body image will find solace in the riveting real-life stories compiled in this book. In first-person accounts, young adults discuss their efforts to overcome challenges including anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and binge-eating disorder. Whether offering details of in-patient treatment, discussing their attempts to find balance in their lives and eating habits, or recounting how the love of a sport helped them overcome an eating disorder, these teens tell their stories with compassion and unflinching honesty, offering guideposts for readers confronting similar issues.

"Describes the causes and consequences of a negative body image, and suggests ways to overcome this self-perception."--From source other than the Library of Congress

Teen-aged girls hate their bodies and diet obsessively, or so we hear. News stories and reports of survey research often claim that as many as three girls in five are on a diet at any given time, and they grimly suggest that many are “at risk” for eating disorders. But how much can we believe these frightening stories? What do teenagers mean when they say they are dieting? Anthropologist Mimi Nichter spent three years interviewing middle school and high school girls—lower-middle to middle class, white, black, and Latina—about their feelings concerning appearance, their eating habits, and dieting. In Fat Talk, she tells us what the girls told her, and explores the influence of peers, family, and the media on girls’ sense of self. Letting girls speak for themselves, she gives us the human side of survey statistics. Most of the white girls in her study disliked something about their bodies and knew all too well that they did not look like the envied, hated “perfect girl.” But they did not diet so much as talk about dieting. Nichter wryly argues—in fact some of the girls as much as tell her—that “fat talk” is a kind of social ritual among friends, a way of being, or creating solidarity. It allows the girls to show that they are concerned about their weight, but it lessens the urgency to do anything about it, other than diet from breakfast to lunch. Nichter concludes that if anything, girls are watching their weight and what they eat, as well as trying to get some exercise and eat “healthfully” in a way that sounds much less disturbing than stories about the epidemic of eating disorders among American girls. Black girls, Nichter learned, escape the weight obsession and the “fat talk” that is so pervasive among white girls. The African-American girls she talked with were much more satisfied with their bodies than were the white girls. For them, beauty was a matter of projecting attitude (“’tude”) and moving with confidence and style. Fat Talk takes the reader into the lives of girls as daughters, providing insights into how parents talk to their teenagers about their changing bodies. The black girls admired their mothers’ strength; the white girls described their mothers’ own “fat talk,” their fathers’ uncomfortable teasing, and the way they and their mothers sometimes dieted together to escape the family “curse”—flabby thighs, ample hips. Moving beyond negative stereotypes of mother–daughter relationships, Nichter sensitively examines the issues and struggles that mothers face in bringing up their daughters, particularly in relation to body image, and considers how they can help their daughters move beyond rigid and stereotyped images of ideal beauty.

Approximately a half million U.S. teens struggle with eating disorders, according to the National Eating Disorders Association. The body’s transition from childhood to adulthood can be confusing and even traumatic. It is during adolescence that many of us develop negative body images, which can distort the way we see ourselves and our lives. Such negative images can affect our self-worth, our relationships, and our health. This valuable resource helps readers determine whether they have a negative body image, understand the roots and potential dangers of such thinking, and learn to overcome the problem and accept and celebrate their bodies.

Based on interviews with women with eating disorders, their therapists, physicians, parents, and spouses. Discusses what an eating disorder is and how it begins. Asks whether families contribute to it and does society pressure for it. Discusses weight prejudice in society; whether an eating disorder is useful; how to avoid eating disorders; and how to get help. Contains advice from those who have been there. Includes work sheets and assessment sheets.

Teens struggling with an eating disorder or negative body image will find solace in the riveting real-life stories compiled in this book. In first-person accounts, young adults discuss their efforts to overcome challenges including anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and binge-eating disorder. Whether offering details of in-patient treatment, discussing their attempts to find balance in their lives and eating habits, or recounting how the love of a sport helped them overcome an eating disorder, these teens tell their stories with compassion and unflinching honesty, offering guideposts for readers confronting similar issues.

Discusses positive and negative body image, with an emphasis on body size and weight, and suggests ways to improve self-esteem and develop a healthy body image.

Understanding Teen Eating Disorders introduces readers to common teen eating disorder scenarios, their warning signs, and treatment options. Each chapter examines a teen or tween and brings the factors, whether they be environmental, genetic, co-existing conditions, etc. that contribute to his or her eating disorder, to life, while seamlessly integrating the latest research in gene inheritance, brain chemistry, and eating disorders in accessible, reader-friendly language. Each chapter provides treatment options, including outpatient, group therapy, and in-patient programs, for both the young person and the family. Each also ends with a Q & A section that reflects the concerns a parent, loved one, or treatment professional may have.