Anorexia

Anorexia

Have you ever had a friend that you envied because she was skinny? If you would have known she had a problem called anorexia nervosa you probably would not have wanted to be just like her. It starts off by trying some fad diet that did not work. She starts skipping more meals and exercising compulsively. She may use laxatives to make herself throw up after eating. Then she starts eating less and less until she is starving herself and denies that there is a problem. Many girls and even guys suffer from this problem. With many of today's fashion trends everyone wants to dress just like the movie stars and look as fabulous as they all do, but it is kind of hard to when you are overweight as many of the teens are today. Fashion companies are making women hate their own bodies.

Just by watching the television many girls get the idea to be skinny like Paris Hilton or Nicole Richie, who is very underweight and is suffering from anorexia herself. When watching television, there are many shows like Oprah that will have young girls on that are anorexic. Other young girls see this and think to themselves "She lost weight by being anorexic. I think I will try that."

When in high school, one would have to be skinny and up to date with the fashion trends to hang with the popular crowd. Many teenagers feel like they have to fit in with this crowd so they will do whatever it takes and can result with this problem. Most guys go for the skinny, popular girls so the overweight girls do not have much of a chance when it comes to boyfriends.

A young girl also suffered here is her story. "Nothing could prevent my will from controlling my body," Sarah says. Except her body itself. The same year she stopped menstruating, her brittle frame began to crumble beneath her. "My foot broke during a rehearsal. I was on crutches for almost a year. Eventually I had to have a screw inserted into my foot because my body couldn't heal on its own." Three years after her body forced her into treatment, Sarah has retired from dancing and is healthy and eating again.

"I'm glad my body fell apart, otherwise I would have refused treatment until I dropped dead," she says. Like Sarah, many people with eating disorders do not recognize that they have a problem and never seek help. But a study appearing recently in the American Journal of Psychiatry suggests that