For mental health professionals

Originally published in Your Teen Magazine for Parents.

Eating disorders are life-threatening illnesses that turn families’ lives upside down. You may not immediately see this side of eating disorders when the media glamorizes images of surgically enhanced waif-like celebrities given current standards for the “ideal” body. But, eating disorders can and do kill; they even kill kids. Eating disorders are not, however, the fault of the media.

If your child suffers from an eating disorder, you might be sitting ...