Anorexia nervosa (1978- ), called anorexia for short, is where someone eats less and less to get thinner and thinner, but no matter how thin she gets (it is almost always a she) she still thinks she is fat! It mainly affects girls from ages 12 to 25. Most come from well-to-do families.
After about age 12 most girls in America and Britain think they are fat and try to lose weight. Anorexia starts out that way too but then it loses all sense and reason: as the girl loses more weight she fears gaining weight even more! No matter how thin she gets she still thinks she is fat! Nothing her mother or her friends or her doctor say will make her think otherwise. She has gone partly mad.
It is no laughing matter: tens of thousands of girls die of it every year in America. Since you cannot talk sense into them many get thinner and thinner till they die.
How to tell if you are anorexic:
- Are you fat?
- Was your last period more than three months ago?
- Does your weight fall below these sort of numbers:
- metric:
- 1.60 metres: 45 kg
- 1.70 metres: 51 kg
- 1.80 metres: 57 kg
- English:
- 5 foot: 90 lbs
- 5 foot 6: 108 lbs
- 6 foot: 129 lbs
- metric:
If you answered “yes” to at least two of these questions then there is a good chance you are anorexic. See your doctor to be sure.
Some anorexics cut up their food into small pieces and move them about on their plate so you think they are eating. They lose interest in boys. Some wear too many layers of clothing because they lack the body fat and ongoing digestion that keeps most of us warm. Their skin becomes dry and their hair starts to fall out. Even their hearts get smaller!
Those with bulimia nervosa also try to lose weight by not eating, but then they get so hungry they pig out. Shame and guilt set in so they make themselves throw up. Since they never get thin this can go on for years and years. It is dangerous too: the body is not designed to throw up after every meal. Do it too often and your heart will run out of the potassium it needs to work.
No one knows what causes anorexia. Most anorexics do not feel good about themselves unless they are “perfect” – maybe because their parents only loved them when they were good. Perfect can mean perfect scores at school or in sports, but it can also mean having a perfect body. In America since the middle 1970s a perfect body means one that is as thin as possible.
They try to look like the thin, beautiful women of Hollywood and fashion magazines. But most girls can never be that thin no matter how much weight they lose. It is a fight against nature they can never win.
See also:
Abagond 
I heard that many women in Naija are now suffering from eating disorders. Is this true?
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This should be a wake-up call for women who want to emulate skinny actresses that anorexia is hazardous and deadly to one’s health.
Thanks for the article.
Stephanie B.
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np
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Anorexia was rare in Nigeria in the 1980s but now it is increasingly common as Western ways take a greater hold on the country.
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The photo you have posted next to the article is thought to have been doctored using Photoshop. Though this is an important issue, it would behoove you check you facts and sources, and use actual photos.
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Thanks. I will find a better picture.
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I found a picture that does not seem to be Photoshopped.
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es una imgen impactante de una anorexica
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this is stupid…..i mean its not ur weight that tells you if u are anorexic….anorixia is about how u feel and look at urself…..i am 50 killograms and about 175 cm tall…..i am naturally skinny….its in my genes…and when u people write this i get kinda sad. i know i am skinny…and i dont like it …i want to be bigger….so i have not anorexia….whats inportent is beeing helthy….so what if ur skinny..if u eat normal and all that, thats what realy matters…..many girls are very skinny..like me…but i eat like a Pig! …..thats all…..bye:p
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hiya can u help all mi mate say im anirexic can u tell mi if i am if i tell u my wieght and height
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A BMI of less than 17.5 is anorexic.
Go here and put in your weight and height:
http://www.nhlbisupport.com/bmi/
And then press the button that says “Compute BMI”. If the number that appears in the heart (your BMI) is less than 17.5 then you are in the anorexic range.
But being anorexic is more than being thin.
Some women are naturally thin. That is fine. But if your last period was more than three months ago then it might be because you are unnaturally thin, thinner than your body is meant to be.
Another feature, the main feature, of anorexia, is thinking you are fat when in fact you are thin. If your BMI is less than 17.5 but you think you should lose weight because you are too fat, that is a sign of anorexia.
But to be sure you should ask a doctor.
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For those who are curious, the calculation for BMI (body mass index) is to take your weight in kilograms and divide by your height in metres twice.
So if, like commenter milly, you are 1.75 metres and 50 kg then:
BMI = 50/1.75/1.75
= 16.3
That is in the anorexic range. That alone does not mean milly is anorexic. But if she has not had a period in three months (assuming she old enough to have regular periods and is not pregnant) or if she thinks she is fat, then, yes, maybe she is anorexic.
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Two sides to this coin.
While I am a strong believer in curvy is good..I am a daughter of a women incredibly overweight. Bot sides of this scale are sad and tragic. And they center on the same problem. Not loving who you are – loving the skin your in. self deception because you do not like who you are. Part of me wants to believe looks do not matter…and I cringe everytime I catch myself looking at my own reflection. I can give you a list, with almost no effort, that is of all the things wrong with me. and I am like almost any other women walking down the street, so caught up in our perceived imperfections we miss the joy in life.
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God made each of us a certain way. We should accept the wisdom of that.
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While we can “accept the widom of that”…The Goddess in each of us as women shall be manifested.
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knowing and believing – those are two different things.
Truthfully – when I am not seeing my reflection…I feel beautiful and powerful and WOMEN…and when I see my reflection – its as if someone took a pin to my ego balloon…I immediatly look to the stretch marks from child birth or the blemish or the fact my knows has a bit of a bump on it, or my eyes are two small etc…What I need is one of those lens filters cameras have that make everything a bit fuzzy…
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Omg, poor girl. Look this girls-click gallery: http://www.skinniestperson.com
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Take a look at this video. It is heart breaking.
http://images.google.com.au/imgres?imgurl=http://www.maniacworld.com/How-an-Anorexic-Girl-Sees-Herself.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.maniacworld.com/How-an-Anorexic-Girl-Sees-Herself.html&usg=__HuSSS6DIutaer1BpuGidASFZ0Ms=&h=291&w=405&sz=16&hl=en&start=17&um=1&tbnid=yTis8pKV4qUU-M:&tbnh=89&tbnw=124&prev=/images%3Fq%3Danorexic%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den
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this bitch needs to eat shit . the bitch got no ass
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This article is a bunch of shit. while reading it I realized that a girl of probably 12-14 years of age had written it and to that, all I have to say is get your information correct. Honestly, if anyone actually believes this article, your probably as old as the person who wrote it.
Grow up, and if you want to preach about something, do your research first.
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tens of thousands of girls die???? i think thats a tad over exaggerated and mostly girls? i dont think thats very true many guys suffer from this as well even tho they may not say it……… i know im a guy and i had an anorexic eating disorder and i lost 85 pound in 3 months it was actually very scary when looking back at it i had gone from 220 pounds to 135 but i dont think many die from this every year…. like sure it is a problem… that many girls (sometimes guys) think there fat and judge there looks based on wut they see in magazines and shit but anorexia but often times people dont “die” from it …. i mean i know now it isnt the way to go
i live in NYC and the number one problem i had from anorexia was that i would often times almost black out when something fast pasted by my face, often times i would almost collapse and a few times i almost fell into the train tracks….. HUGE PROBLEM its no laughing matter 
and one thing for sure is that its not something u can just stop… it becomes a mental war almost ….. its like a drug and u get so sad and upset from just eating the smallest amounts of food… its a scary thing
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its the guilt after eating something…I deal with it today…Dont eat – then binge cause I am so hungry – then guilt – failure – and self loathing.
When I was 19, I ended up passing out at the mall – woke up in the hospital with an IV in my arm. I was not anorexic – but I was eating very little and exercising from 5AM till I had to go to work and from 5PM when I got off of work till the gym closed. was dating a guy who called me “Slim” and when asked why – would respond “Cause your not – OHHHH” in an Andrew Dice Clay voice. This is when I was 18 – had a 24 inch waist – 38 inch hips and each thigh was 22 inches around when flexed. No matter how much I starved byself and exercised I couldnt get rid of my hips and thighs.
I am about 10 inches bigger now – heavier, but mostly happier…but I still sink into guilt and self loathing over food.
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that picture is the scariest and ugliest thing I’ve ever seen.
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I think that is disguisting, no body would do that to themselves i have a little 7 year old cousin she is skinny as anything and she thinks she is fat! what is happening to this world?! is this the future.
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I think thats err , but when your in your teens and people at school like boys they call you fat if your not as skinny as they are or if your skinnier than themm they call you anorexic , i think the worst thing is when they dont even care and they just laugh.
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We have a size acceptance obesity promotion blog. Unlike other fat acceptance orgs we are not anti-diet and we do not judge and talk shit about skinny people.
Stop by and say what every you want. We do not censor unless it X-rated content. Other than that you can speak your mind.
www (dot) biggerfatterblog (dot) blogspot(dot)com
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In half of the girls who have anorexia, the reason that they are harassed at school by boys who whine because they are just 1 kilo more than other girls. She is starting to feel fat, as the boys increasingly say. That is so annoying, someone would make them something that is not what it is! Fat is not beautiful, but anorexia person is not beautiful. With a few extra pounds does not matter that much. but with too little weight is simply unhealthy.
[ sorry for the bad english, I’m from Holland]
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“We have a size acceptance obesity promotion blog. Unlike other fat acceptance orgs we are not anti-diet and we do not judge and talk shit about skinny people.”
Thank you! You all must be very secure with yourselfs because you do not have to put anyone else down.
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proud FA, i agree. we shouldn’t judge or put others down. anorexia is not cool and neither is being obese. we should love who we are but take care of ourselves as well.
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I meant yourselves. opps 🙂
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you idiot! cmon of you r anorectic. thats a disease in your head. you can be normal weight and still have like ana!
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This is… the most… ridiculous thing… I have ever seen. You don’t know what you are talking about. At all. Get your facts straight.
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I don’t know what other two posters above me are yammering about but Abagond got the jist of what Anorexia Nervosa is about.
Here is the DMV IV criteria for anorexia nervosa
1.Refusal to maintain body weight at or above a minimally normal weight for age and height: weight loss leading to maintenance of body weight <85% of that expected or failure to make expected weight gain during period of growth, leading to body weight less than 85% of that expected.
2.Intense fear of gaining weight or becoming fat, even though under weight.
Disturbance in the way in which one’s body weight or shape is experienced, undue influence of body weight or shape on self-evaluation, or denial of the seriousness of the current low body weight.
3. The absence of at least three consecutive menstrual cycles (amenorrhea) in women who have had their first menstrual period but have not yet gone through menopause (postmenarcheal, premenopausal females).
Anorexia also has the highest mortality rate of any psychriatric disorder.
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“I am about 10 inches bigger now – heavier, but mostly happier…but I still sink into guilt and self loathing over food.”
So do I. I’ve been struggling with my weight my whole life. I’ve never been particularly skinny or fat, but I do have a hard time feeling normal in my body, whatever the weight. I think it’s what makes me uncomfortable around fat people.
Sort of like how I can’t stand being around a smoker now that I’ve stopped smoking. Even if they don’t smoke in front of me I’m bothered just by the fact that they DO smoke. It’s not logical, but there it is.
It’s a very modern disease. I’ve known girls in high school that had to be hospitalized for this. And I had a friend who over-uses laxatives (bulemic).
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Anorexia is a choice and a lifestyle. It’s a way for girls to make themselves feel good about having control in their uncontrollable lives. People like this trying to stop it is only gonna encourage us. Just give it up.
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ThinGirl1, I’ve always read that anorexia is not so much about weight issue, but an issue of control.
Like anything else, when a girl is ready to change, she will take those steps. You can’t be ridiculed into it. I think a lot of people ridicule anorexic girls because they think it’s a matter of vanity and don’t treat it as a psychological issue.
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Seriously, do your research before you write about something, especially in a subject as sensitive as this.
As someone who has been there, personally i find it quite offensive with the amount of false information being displayed.
The main thing i want to say, not every person suffering from anorexia does it for the pure urge to be skinny, in fact, most i have ever met who have suffered from the illness, have completly different and complex reasons.
I’m not going to be rude, as much as i feel like i want to, all im going to say is, do your research next time.
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Oh and ThinGirl1
Anorexia is by no means a choice.
And by ‘us’ im assuming you mean people with anorexia?
I’ts not a club
You cant pick and choose if you join
And what gives you the right to encourage one of the things that ruins peoples lives so much.
Grow up and find a new hobbie, because thats what it sounds like you think it is.
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I think that people love to make it into a “lifestyle choice” or a vanity issue, ie the desire to be thin so that they can scapegoat thin women mainstream media. Though I don’t claim to know everything about anorexia, I think there is something MUCH deeper than just trying to be thin. It’s like alcholism or any other issue. Very few achololics drink because they think it makes them look “cool”. It’s much more complex.
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Plenty of girls want to be thin; most women want to lose weight. Anorexia is not that. If it were, they would not be dying of it, they would stop before it got that far.
Islandgirl’s comparison is a good one: plenty of people drink but that alone does not make them an alcoholic. Likewise, wanting to lose weight does not, in itself, make you anorexic.
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I’ve been suffering with Anorexia for the past two and a half years, and I can’t speak for everyone suffering with the disorder, but I for one couldn’t give a s**t about the appearances of actresses and models, and vanity is hardly a factor at all.
Its very hard to explain, but anorexia nervosa is a lot more complex than most people realise.
That said, there are some valid points in this blog.
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Bleergh, first I am sorry that you are suffering from this and hope very much that you’ll overcome it.
Also, I have ALWAYS said that anorexia is not perpetuated by Hollywood or the media but is MUCH more complex. It is not all about vanity. But sometime it is scapegoated as such.
Again, bleergh, best wishes!
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You know, seriously? Five foot and 90 pound could just be how someone is made. Five foot six and 108? Just bump it up four pounds and they’re not anorexic? How about the 6 foot 129? Again, but that up about 5 or 6 pounds and they’re not anorexic anymore? GET A GRIP! That’s like telling someone who is a healthy weight that they’re fat, which is what the media and fashion agencies do to get little girls self conscious. I am not at a healthy weight. I’m over weight. I’m about 55 – 60 pounds over weight, but I’m being told that because of my height (and not my bone mass and how my body is built, I’ve been thrown in the general study of morbidly obese women) I’m 100 pounds over weight. I’m supposed to be 125 (according to the gernal study), but if I were to get THAT small, I’d look anorexic and sickly. I’d BE sickly looking because my BODY is NOT MADE to be 125. I’d be COMFORTABLE at 150 or 165. I’d be ideal health at 145 for MY BODY TYPE. You know, so instead of going from ONE extreme to the other saying, “You’re too fat!” to “You’re too skinny!” There has to be SOME balance without getting SO CLOSE to the line, you’ve already made a mistake. Man, seriously. This is just. I am so frustrated with all this JUNK. You want someone to be healthy? Encourage meant. Not put downs, not anything like “you’re too skinny!” ENCOURAGE HEALTHY LIFE STYLES! instead of encouraging discouragement and self pity because they’re doing something wrong. sheesh.
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with some anorexia sufferers it more about having some sort of control when they feel that they have little to no control on their lives the same could be said for other types of self harmers because this is another form of self harming.
I think media image of thin-ness propbably effects the majority of sufferes though
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It’s extremely sad. Part of the problem is our generation’s idea of beauty. We have such limited ideas of what it is that no one is even allowed to conjure their own version, to look at more than what meets the eye. When you look at old paintings you see healthy women and the beauty that radiates from each and everyone of those pictures. Some movement needs to take place to stop this terrible disease, we’ve all seen the pictures and we know it’s no joke. The article’s great and I think it’s good that people and trying to spread the knowledge on how serious anorexia is.
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Thx for the article but I have to say that the section about what weight you’re supposed to be is very irrelevant.
“1.60 metres: 45 kg
1.70 metres: 51 kg
1.80 metres: 57 kg”
Just because you are thin does not necessarily mean you are anorexic. You can be underweight without having an eating disorder. A starving child in Ethiopia can be horribly skinny and underweight but will definitely not have an eating disorder. You can also be terribly overweight and have an eating disorder.
Other than that, I enjoyed reading this it was very well written thank you (:
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How come no one’s mentioned the body dysmorphia theory yet?
*blinks*
(If you have and I missed it, sorry)
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i find most of this to be true, so why is everyone dissing the information that has been posted? this is a basic description. yes, i realize that most people suffer with different symptoms or reasons of anorexia. (for me it’s the fact that america’s obese rate is going up, and i’m afraid to be a part of it) this is a serious condition, so i would respect it if treated that way. you can’t just stop anorexia, and people should understand that.
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A good friend of mine had anorexia. She is cured now, thanks God, but it was horrible. At one moment, she weighted around 39 kg (she is about 160cm tall- that’s around 5’3”). Now I don’t know how much that weight is in pounds, but normal is around 50kg.
I think having control has a lot to do with it. Also, it’s a way people react to stress.
In a way, it is about beauty ideals and how you look. But it’s only a beginning.
It all started when she was in America for one year when she was 18. Now, some of you might think it’s America’s fault, but it wasn’t. She was a girl of a healthy weight, with round hips. That is considered fat in my culture. But when she was in US nobody thought she was fat. Guys asked out on dates and nobody thought she was ugly. So she gained a certain self esteem.
But it all broke when she got back home. People started telling her she should lose some weight, and when she stopped eating and started losing more and more weight other girls complimented her on her looks! Even when she lost her period and her hair started to fall of they were telling her how good she looks! No joke here.
She finally managed to get better, after a few years. But even today, whenever there’s a stressful situation, she stops eating. I guess it’s the way she reacts on stress and not the basic wish to be thin.
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I guess I’d be the oddball in this phenomenon if I admitted to preferring females w/ brawny over scrawny…assertive over timid, etc…of course, that could apply to all sorts of issues spanning the globe!
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ANOREXIA is definitely not a joke. my classmates always refer to anything thin as “anorexic”. but i think thats a bit
inappropriate because i dont think they realize how serious the thing is and how many people are going through that kind of condition.
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Thought is might be interesting to add that another reason why many ppl become anorexic also has to do with a lack of control in their lives, having overly pushy and aggressive parents or parents that hold extremely high standards for their children’s “success” has been found more often than not in families of anorexic people.
good post.
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Anorexia is both physical and mental condition. In a way, it’s not about wanting to look “pretty” at all. Many anorexic people take a great pride in their ability to control themselves, for example, the ability to force themselves to eat only an apple the whole day. In a way, they want to have a control over their lives, and to prove they are good at something (restraining themselves from something so essential as the food).
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I’m 5 ‘2 and I’m not sure how much I weigh. My school said that I weigh 82 lbs, the clinic said 90, and there’s this other one place(that should have the most accurate reading) can’t make up their damn mind. One month, it’s 84 lbs. The next month, it’s 92. A couple weeks after that, 90. A couple weeks after that, 93. One month later, I happen to weigh 89 pounds. Ha, and, one year, I managed to LOSE weight over the HOLIDAYS. Oh, my God. I just realized that this has been an issue for a while now, then….
I look in the mirror and I’m not sure that I like what I see. I hate that damn extra fat that just comes, naturally…but, then again, who doesn’t hate that extra fat? I’m not sure what I think. I feel like my thighs are too big. I think my ass is huge…yet, people ask me if I’m anoxeric, a/o then call me anorexic. My “friend” called me, “Little Anorexic Girl,” and my other “friend” just, casually, called me anorexic. So many people comment on how skinny I am. A guy, nicely, said that I should gain weight. A girl I don’t really know said, “You’re really skinny,” when I stood next to her. Her friend looked at me and agreed. A really good friend of mine, who was right next to them said, “Yeah! Everybody must be jealous.” I tell that friend that I think it’s disgusting(in all honestly, I don’t really think that it’s all that disgusting), and she’ll say, “Nooo! Nooo! You’re just fine!” My smallest friends hug me and lift me, and say, “Whoa! You’re so light! Dude, lift her!”
I don’t try to avoid food. It’s just that I’m not really hungry at the right times. I don’t want to look like I’m underweight, because I don’t like how it looks, but, I will admit, that, the smaller the number the doctor gives me, the better. It’s like a record or something. The less I weigh, the cooler I feel….
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@ Spam
Maybe the hardest thing to do is to think of this as a serious problem that may require decisive action. It’s easy to think, “this is just the way that I am.” But it’s going to be so worth it for you to go and have a talk with a counselor about it. Things may not be totally out of control now, but they can get there under the wrong circumstances…
I hope that you will try and work through the WHY of how you feel about your self image. You might be surprised at how much your life is being controlled by the way you see yourself.
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I am anerexic myself.
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I am very sad whenever I see that kind of pictures of a young girls. Unfortunately the number increases every year. This is an alarm to modern world and a fact that anorexia is very persistent disease to treat.
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i almost became aniraxic bc i stoped eating for like 4 days and i jest was like this is pain full i wanna eat but every one calls me fat so thats y i did it bc i wanna be skinny
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Anerexia is often clustered with body dysmorphic disorder, anxiety, and obsessive complusive disorders. Please DO NOT let someone who is uncredible and untrained help you diagnose yourself. If you feel that you are out of control seek help. As I will repeat again do not let someone tell you about a mental disorder.
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At least you can say to an anorexic …I’ve got a bone to pick with you.
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Sorry for that joke (it wasn’t even funny) I’ve just looked at that picture again and almost threw up. Anorexia is a very serious illness and should be taken seriously.
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i dont want to lose my hair but i lose them everyday and i am very sad about it.
be happy girls, dont let aneroxia control your life.
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I have had to watch x2 of my closest friends go through this and both got as skinny. They werent their normal selves, one of them started loosing her hair, it went dry and snapped and the other kept callapsing, they have both got better after months of hard work. Its not easy but it can be done with the right help. As some of you have said you need to be happy in your self but at the same time ensuring you are still healthy. Someone can be slim and not have an eating disorder. Unfortunatly I also got very ill without even reasling, we are all better but there will always be the memories and scares left, due to my health and wait getting so bad i have a weak heart. I can only blame myself for this but when I realised what this was doing to my friends and family I had to do something. We all worked together and a year and a bit on, we have our energy back, healthy skin and hair and our loved ones have peace of mind that we arent going anywhere. I hope for those who still struggle get the support they need, it can be done you just need to be strong, stronger than you’ve ever been before. I wish you all well x
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Abagond can you tell me anything about the background information of the woman in the picture. Im doing a speech on eating disorders and would like to use this picture as an example, but I just wanted to know part of her story, age, if she is cured etc. ??
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@ Eden
Good question. Unfortunately I do not know. The earliest known occurrence of the picture I can find is here from 1996:
http://www.com.cuhk.edu.hk/varsity/9603/eat.htm
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Wow, seriously? You don’t diagnose someone as being anorexic by height and weight but you’re obviously too ignorant to know that. You get the award for most horribly written article I’ve ever read.
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@ cheebacheeba
It was hardly a diagnosis. I am not a doctor. In the post I said:
Some models, for example, are underweight for their height without being anorexic.
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In this page you can foun help. https://www.facebook.com/pages/VOLCANA/330357030398665
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thanks for sharing!
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