Overview
Overview – Feeding and Eating Disorders, Part 1
Feeding and Eating Disorders represent a group of complex mental health conditions that can seriously impair one’s health and social functioning. They can involve a child or adult of any age and typically involves a refusal to eat certain food groups, textures, solids, or liquids for a period of at least one month, which causes them to not gain enough weight or grow naturally. In children, feeding disorders resemble a failure to thrive, except there is no medical or physiological condition that can explain the very small amount of food the children consume or their lack of growth.
Feeding disorders usually are first diagnosed in early childhood rather than in the adolescent years. Although eating disorders can affect anyone at any age, adolescents and young women are the most likely to be affected. Up to 13 percent of youth may develop an eating disorder by the time they are 20. It is believed that as many as 20 million women and possibly 10 million men have suffered from some type of eating disorder.
It is often the case that a serious disruption has occurred, or some type of psychopathology has been identified between the child and caregiver. The temperament of the child may also be a factor in the development of feeding difficulties. It is important to consider the characteristics of both the children and caregivers interdependently rather than separately. It is especially critical to look at maternal factors when considering the cause of feeding disorders. This is because maternal anxiety disorders, depressive disorders, and/or other eating disorder symptoms exhibited during pregnancy and/or post-partum, have been linked with feeding difficulties in offspring. It is also critical to identify and evaluate the temperament of the child. Studies have revealed that many of the children with feeding difficulties appear to have a difficult temperament. Exhibited behaviors may include displays of angry moods, temper tantrums, and aggression.
Feeding and Eating Disorders, Part 1, presents information on four types of disorders, one type each day for four days.
These are:
- Pica Feeding Disorder
- Rumination Feeding Disorder
- Avoidant/restrictive Feeding Disorder
- Unspecified Feeding and Eating Disorder
On the fifth day, the Team reviews each of the four disorders addressed, helping you to fix the information in your memory and to reaffirm the strategies for dealing with each type. Typically, the average person needs to review information three or four times to move it from short-term memory into long-term memory.
