ALBANY, GA -- Dance instructor Haley Canady began competitive gymnastics when she was five years old.

“It's made me who I am today. It's helped me in my academic career, social career and it's very beneficial in a young girl’s life,” says Canady.

She says it helped her become more focused in school, but for some girls it caused them to focus more on their weight than anything else.

“You are constantly being reminded about your weight. I was conscious of it, but never to the extent to where I was sick,” she says. “I have encountered friends that have had eating disorders, seen firsthand what it can do to a person especially growing up in an environment that is so competitive.”

It is pressures like these that Family Therapist Ann Priddy at The Renaissance Center says cause eating disorders.

“I think our society also puts a lot of pressure on teenagers. They feel that they have to be everything to everybody. Sometimes the pressures of school, social pressures, all that can be very stressful,” Priddy says. “The adolescents that I see that have eating disorders a lot of times have problems with self esteem, maybe they've had peer problems a lot of them are perfectionists.”

She says there are a number of factors that go into a teen developing an eating disorder like anorexia, bulimia and binge-eating, including family situations.

A new national study posted online in the Archives of General Psychiatry says 500,000 teens between the ages of 13 and 18 have an eating disorder. Binge-eating, the most common eating disorder among the 10,000 surveyed, affected more than 1.5 percent of the adolescents. Less than one percent had had bulimia and 0.3 percent tried anorexia.

“Given my experience working with this age group there are many more than we realize,” says Priddy.

She says some teenagers are more likely to resist telling their parents and suffer from their eating disorder in secret. She says parents and school personnel are starting to notice the symptoms now more than ever: “the hoarding of food, skipping meals, obsession with their weight, compulsive overeating with periods of not eating, going overboard with exercising, having long exercise routines.”

“If you can intervene early you can kind of get them on the road to recovery and the prognosis is good but the longer they go on with an eating disorder the more likely it is to become a lifelong pattern,” says Priddy.  “I think a good parent will insist they be seen by a physician and also go and talk with a therapist.”

While eating disorders are commonly brought on by psychological reasons, the effects take a physical toll on a person.

According to the National Institute for Mental Health, the various eating disorders can cause health issues. Anorexia can lead to muscle loss, low blood pressure and anemia. Bulimia can cause kidney problems and severe dehydration while Binge Eating can bring about cardiovascular disease and hypertension.   

To help avoid issues like eating disorders, at the dance studio Pink Slipper, the instructors want to combat self esteem issues in girls beginning at a young age.

“We start dance classes at the age of two to build confidence especially in girls, this day in time peer pressure is a big thing,” says Pink Slipper Owner and Instructor Shelly Moore. “I feel like if we can instill confidence at an early age when they get older they are more confident and as likely to listen to peer pressure.”

Canady says she sees self-esteem issues and pressures in girls she teaches

“It's very prevalent in younger girls these days, more so than it was in my generation,” she says. And that is why she says she strives to help them build up their self image to a positive light.