Life Behind Depression and an Eating Disorder Teen age boys and girls face many things in their lives as they grow up. Two major obstacles that teens can face are depression and an eating disorder. About 20 percent of teens will experience depression before they reach adulthood (Borchard). The National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders, also known as ANAD, estimates nearly 24 million Americans have an eating disorder, and 95 percent of them are between the ages of 12 and 25.8(). These disorders are the most occurring disorders that teens could go through as they grow up in life. A lot of the young adults do not even knowing that they have the disorders such a depression or an eating disorder until it is brought to their attention or they realize that they have a problem. So I believe that more education and information for recognizing teen depression and eating disorders should be available to combat the pressure of media, society and support systems in affected teens. The media has a major impact when it comes to young adults having disorders such as depression and eating disorders. They grow up watching television looking at actresses, actors and models wanting to be just like them. For some young adults that is a good way of looking at life because they want to be successful but for others it could lead to or even cause a not so fulfilling life ahead of them. Their life may start into a downward spiral when they start developing depression or an eating disorder. Most of the young adults that start to have an eating disorder or start to have the feeling of depression do not realize that it could have developed from what they have seen, heard or read in the media.
A lot of young women and men that start to develop an eating disorder start asking themselves “why am I not as pretty?” or “ why can I not be that skinny?”. For most young girls growing up they want to strive to be that “model pretty” they think that every girl should (look like a model or actress looks). So instead of them thinking that they are beautiful in their own special way they start to put their body in harm with not eating when they feel like their body is ready for them to eat or, even skipping main meals that they should consume every day. Once they start to see that they are forming that model or actress pretty they feel like they could keep cutting food and meals out of their daily life however they do not realize that it is turning into a terrifying and dangerous habit. These young women feel that it is okay to do what they are doing by cutting back the meals in the day because they see in the media that celebrities are doing it so cant they do it too?
A patient from the Eating Disorder Program of the Westchester division of New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center in White Plans came to one of her group-therapy sessions one day with a magazine photograph of the exceeding thin model Kate Moss. She then thrust the topic upon the nurse saying “you think I have a problem, look at her she is making a lot of money looking like this she looks great” This young women is being hospitalized with anorexia nervosa which is a disorder that causes a person to lose more weight than is considered healthy for their age and height. (Lomnardi).So when she sees pictures such as a photo of Kate Moss or any other beautiful celebrity she feels that it is okay to be harming her body in the actions that she does. When reality is it only harming herself more down the road in life. This could lead her not only from an eating disorder but to depression.
When youthful teens are seen in the media all the impressive and remarkable things that all the well-known celebrities have or doing some ask themselves “why am I not as happy as they are?” or “ why is my life not as enjoying?”. This is the point when some of the men and women start to think that they are not good enough to be happy or not able to strive to exceed as much. They see that