Cripes: A fifth of teens affected by eating disorders

There was a time you could count on your average teenager to sleep in until 3pm, quote Nietzsche and write angst-ridden poetry while wanking into a sock/crying over a boy (adjust according to gender).

Now though it seems that if they’re not obese and riddled with diabetes, they’re stick thin and starving. Something seems seriously wrong.

According to Government figures, the number of teens being admitted to hospital with eating disorders has risen by over a third in the last 10 years.

Now a Finnish study, published in the Journal of Advanced Nursing, has found that 18% of school kids admit to having eating problems. Interestingly – unlike the usual claims – the report found that anxiety – rather than size zero catwalk body image stuff – is more often to blame.

The teens – aged between 15 and 17 – who had suffered anxiety in their early adolescence were 20 times more likely to have eating disorders than those with no history of psychological problems. Importantly, those who were unhappy with their body image still only had eating disorders if they had suffered earlier anxiety.

True to stereotype, girls were much moe likely to have problems than boys, especially ongoing problems.

The majority (77%) of those who had ongoing eating problems said they were unhappy with their weight and 46% unhappy with their appearance (compared with eight and 18% of those who didn’t have eating problems) but 63% of the teens with eating problems were a healthy weight and over a third were underweight.

Further information

The Eating Disorders Unit at Cygnet Hospital Ealing offers outpatient and inpatient treatment for a full range of eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa and bulimia for all patients aged 16 and over with a diagnosis of eating disorders. For more information on treatment, see www.cygnethealth.co.uk.