Many teenagers report feeling negative about their bodies and for some, anxieties about appearance morph into eating disorders. It may start with impulsive efforts to diet, which can lead to extreme restriction, or out-of-control eating, or both. For parents it can be tough to tell what’s going on because kids often hide their behavior from their families, and even their friends.

This is National Eating Disorders Awareness Week, and we’re rounding up resources from childmind.org about eating disorders — how to tell when a teenager may be developing a problem, and how the most effective form of treatment works. Some disorders are hard to spot because kids who have them don’t look exceptionally thin, even if they’re seriously damaging their health. That includes kids with bulimia, binge eating disorder, and atypical anorexia. While the majority of eating disorders still occur in girls, boys are increasingly developing them as they restrict eating to minimize body fat and obsessively work out to increase muscle mass.

– Caroline Miller, Editorial Director | ✉