West Bloomfield teen counseling can address eating and food issues
There is a wide range of behaviors that could indicate issues with food or eating. Parents of teens may become concerned if their child seems to eat too much or not enough, wondering if particular behaviors may be a symptom of a disorder such as anorexia or bulimia. Behind behaviors surrounding food and eating, are complicated feelings related to body image. Ideally, a child, teen, or adult will allow hunger to dictate his or her eating cycles. In our West Bloomfield therapy practice, we provide teens with counseling services that can address their relationship with food and the feelings that drive their behaviors.
Why do some people develop food and eating issues?
With so many people having no issues with food, why do the eating habits of some people become dysfunctional? At particular risk for eating disorders are adolescents and young women who are faced with a wide variety of social, biological, and psychological factors. Issues with food can be difficult to identify accurately in our society, which is fixated on weight, shape, body-mass index, and dieting. Young people as well as adults are inundated with images of the ultra-fit. In the adolescent mind, especially, these images can have a profound effect on body image and self-acceptance. What looks like "healthy" limitations on food, however, can actually be a sign of low self-worth and a belief that physique equals worthiness and value as a person.
Eating, or a lack thereof, as well as excessive exercise, may be the result of an intense feelings of competitiveness or low self-worth, of anxiety or feeling "not good enough." Someone may develop eating and food issues, as well, when they feel the need to please others or achieve what they perceive as perfection. Trauma and troubled relationships with friends or family, as well, may cause a person to turn either towards food or away from it in an attempt to cope.
Psychotherapy for healthier relationships with food
When disordered eating exists in a teen or in an adult, the need for treatment cannot be overstated. In some, just a few months of therapy can make a huge dent in issues related to food and eating. In some cases, the process of self-transformation though which authentic identity and self-acceptance are cultivated may take years. Counseling Associates, located in West Bloomfield, is staffed with experienced therapists skilled in a number of different therapeutic methods to address issues with self-worth, trauma, and food and eating issues. We may assist the teen on an individual basis as well as in family therapy sessions through which understanding and support can be gained.
Food and eating issues can have a lasting impact on health and wellbeing. Receive positive, compassionate assistance by calling (248) 626-1500.
