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ANOREXIA NERVOSA
The
NewFamine
by
Agnes Youngblood
A new shocking social problem has arisen in Western society.
Here's what you need to know about eating disorde rs that plague thousands.
J
OANIE
has always been
an above-average high
school student.
Her grades are at the top of
her class. She is a star athlete
and the homecoming queen.
Everybody's goal is to be like
Joanie.
But Joanie has a secret. She is
starving herself to death.
They Call l t Anorexia Nervosa
Like a growing number of young
34
women-and young men in 5 to 10
percent of reported cases- Joanie
suffers from an illness called
an–
orexia nervosa.
She is one of a
growing number worldwide, be–
tween the ages of 12 to 25 years,
who voluntarily starve themselves.
Typically, the anotect ic comes
from a middle- to upper-class fami–
ly and is a high achiever.
Anorexia literally means "with–
out a longing. " This term is mis–
leading. Anorectics do have a long–
ing- they are acutely aware of
their hunger. Even though the vic–
tim almost totally refuses to eat, he
or she suffers a great deal from
hunger pangs. But victims rarely,
if ever, complain of hunger, or of
the difficulty of keeping to a
diet. They pride in their
effectiveness to do what
others find difficult.
1t is a new and tragic
forro of vanity.
Food becomes a re–
verse obsession to the
anorectic.
It
is an all–
consu ming tho u ght
and everything in life
focuses around it, even
though the barest míni–
mum of calories is con–
sumed. An anorectic
may become a
gourmet cook, in–
sisting that others
eat what she has
prepared, but du–
tifully abstaining
from a morsel
herself.
The Causes
What causes promising young
women who seem to have every–
thing going for them to subject
themselves to such torture- this
new kind of famine?
Sigmund Freud once suggested
that anorexia s temmed from a sym–
bolic rejection of sex. The illness,
he claimed, caused the loss of
curves and menstruation, both fem–
inine characteristics. This theory is
generally rejected today.
While certain causes of anorexia
are still being debated, most recent
studies indicate that the core prob–
lem stems from the family relation–
ship. Usually a high achiever, the
anorectic will go to any length to
please people, especially her par–
ents.
This extreme diligence, coopera–
tion and compliance often leads the
person to fecl that she has no real
control over her own life-that she
is living her life for everyone
around her. But in one area she has
total and complete control: the area
of her own body.
Often the family of anorectics
places great value in physical
appearance, achievement and repu–
tation in the community. One or
both parents tend to be overprotec–
tive of and overconcerned about
their chi ldren.
Disorders are especially likely to
develop when parents set excessive–
ly high standards of achievement
for their children or try to exert too
much control over their lives.
The PLAIN TRUTH