Singaporean youths struggle to cope with eating disorders

Posted on November 9, 2013

Singapore -- More teenagers, some as young as 13, are being treated at Singapore's public hospitals for eating disorders.

Figures from the Singapore General Hospital (SGH) show that 95 youngsters aged 13 to 19 suffered from anorexia or bulimia last year, up from 65 in 2011 and 75 the year before.

“About a third of these cases needed hospitalization,” said Dr. Lee Huei Yen, director of the eating disorders program at SGH.

The number of these young patients with eating disorders outpaces the number of adult patients, which also went up from 40 in 2008 to 70 last year.

Most of SGH's younger patients are girls, with only five boys treated for eating disorders each year from 2010. Dr. Lee from SGH attributes the surge in such cases to media portrayals of thin ideals.

Dr. Lee Ee Lian, a senior consultant psychiatrist from Promises, a mental health clinic, says, however, that primary school children here are increasingly susceptible to eating disorders due to the stress from schoolwork.


Category(s):Eating Disorders

Source material from China Post