Advertisement

How To Help Teens Turning To Disordered Eating For Pandemic Relief

“Eating our feelings” has been a running theme for many coping with mental health struggles brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. For many isolated teens, however, eating too much or too little has become a constant source of stress.

Helplines have seen a spike in calls related to disordered eating since March: Teens are calling Kids Help Phone in Canada about food and their body image more than any other issue. Those who were previously in sports are especially at risk; sports nutritionist Jennifer Sygo told CTV News in Canada that many young athletes have turned to controlling what they eat, in the absence of their regimented lives.

This all falls in line with a recent U.S. academic review on adolescents, which found that the pandemic has worsened stressors linked to eating disorders: Depression, social isolation, money worries, trauma, and problems at home.

If you’re worried about your teen’s eating and want to help them cope, here’s what you should know.

Eating could be their way of asserting control

The pandemic has greatly increased feelings of helplessness in our lives, which is a big factor when it comes to disordered eating and more severe eating disorders like anorexia. Aryel Maharaj of Canada’s National Eating Disorder Information Centre told CTV News that many teens calling the center have described how controlling what they ate made them feel better.

“I guess I’m feeling out-of-control of life circumstances right now and eating, and weight, is what I can control,” was how Maharaj summed up the theme of their calls.

Some teens may also feel pressured to control their food intake because of online communities and pandemic weight gain jokes; a teenager interviewed by Good Morning America said jokes that gaining more pounds, or “the COVID 15,” led her to unfollow social media accounts.

Disordered eating isn’t always skipping meals

Psychology Today lists feeling anxiety over certain food groups, body dysmorphia,...

Continue reading on HuffPost