What's eating away at you? Teen girls and eating disorders

We live in a world today where image is everything. So many of us would like to have the perfect family, the perfect home, the perfect car and, yes, even the perfect physical form.

Unfortunately, our culture is embracing behavioral concepts that are in direct opposition to our perceived goal of “perfection.” Fast food, low-nutritive snacks, sedentary time spent in front of a computer, video game console and/or TV all contribute to this conflict.

Currently, an average of 30 percent of teenaged girls are overweight, with an additional 15 percent that are considered obese. Meanwhile our movies, magazines, commercials, etc., portray physical “perfectness” as the expectation. So, what’s a girl to do?

Unfortunately, 1 out of every 10 girls between the ages 10 and 20 develop some form of eating disorder.

There seem to be three major categories of eating disorders. The first form that usually comes to mind is anorexia nervosa. Sufferers of this condition literally starve themselves (sometimes to death) as they are preoccupied with thoughts of food and being overweight. Perceptions of body distortions are not uncommon with this condition.

Another form of eating disorder is bulimia. In this case, victims avoid the consequences of over eating by purging their bodies. Methods of purging include vomiting, abuse of laxatives as well as obsessive exercise.

Both of the above mentioned conditions need to be taken very seriously. Self-abusive behavior such as this can cause great damage to internal organs as well as damage to overall mental and physical health. Mortality rates for untreated sufferers may even be as high as 20 to 25 percent.

Unfortunately, it is often difficult for parents to know for sure if their teen has an eating disorder because, many times, eating disorder dysfunctional behavior is done secretly. However, parents could be on the lookout for teens with an inordinate fear of becoming overweight, even when the teen is clearly underweight.

The third, and likely the most common, form of eating disorder is binge-eating disorder. With this condition, the individual has episodes of compulsive overeating. But unlike bulimia, there is no purging; therefore this person lives with the negative consequences of overeating. Each of these conditions could be short-lived or become a life-long struggle.

On Sunday, Sept. 17, at 6 p.m., Dagsboro Church of God (DCOG) in Dagsboro will be hosting a community seminar for teen girls and their mothers. This seminar is a part of our Mission Possible Series. Our meetings cover sensitive issues that have the potential to devastate the lives of our young ladies.

We have been, and will continue discussing topics such as dating violence, drug and alcohol abuse, as well as teen motherhood from a preventative perspective. Our goal at DCOG is to educate our youth before they become involved with any of these destructive patterns of behavior.

There will be a variety of speakers from our community on Sept. 17. The Cape Henlopen High School Wellness Center will be providing two experts in the field. Social worker and Wellness Center coordinator Mark Thalheimer, as well as nurse practitioner Peggy Gatti will be speaking from a medical perspective on eating disorders. The main focus of their presentation will be issues of control, self-distortion and anxiety.

Priscilla Tephabock, wife of DCOG’s senior pastor, will be sharing pertinent personal observations about this topic. Indian River High School junior Kristen Hattier will be sharing information from a teen’s perspective. I will be concluding the evening with information on societal pressure for perfection from a biblical point of view.

Looking ahead to Sunday, Oct. 15, at 6 p.m., we will be holding a seminar on assault prevention. Our guest speaker will be forensic nurse Debra Holbrook from Nanticoke Memorial Hospital.

Admission to these meetings is free and open to any female over the age of 12. (Topics relating to sexuality may be discussed.) For more information, contact DCOG at 732-6550.