In American society, women are given the message starting from a very young age that in order to be .
successful and happy, they must be thin. Eating disorders are on the rise. It is not surprising given the value which .
society places on being thin. Television and magazine advertising that show the image of glamorous and thin model .
are everywhere. .
Thousands of teenage girls are starving themselves daily in an effort to attain what the fashion industry .
considers to be the "ideal" figure. An average female model weighs 23% less than the recommended weight for a .
woman. Maintaining a weight 20% below your expected body weight fits the criteria for the emotional eating .
disorder known as anorexia .According to medical weight standards, most models fit into the category of being .
anorexic. Physicians now believe that anorexia has existed for at least 300 years . It was however only about one .
hundred years ago that Professor Ernest Lasegue of the University of Paris finally identified anorexia as an illness . .
The term "anorexia nervosa" literally means nervous lose of appetite. Most researchers and physicians .
agree that the number of patients with this life threatening disease is increasing at an alarming rate. Garfinkle & .
Garner define anorexia as "an emotional disorder characterized by an intense fear of becoming obese, lack of self-.
esteem and distorted body image which results in self-induced starvation" . The development of this disease .
generally peaks between the age of 14 to 18 but can occur later in life and is not uncommon to see it in women in to .
their early 40's. Recent estimates suggest that 1% of American girls between this age span will develop anorexia to .
some degree .It has also propagated in many college campuses, and it is spreading.
Studies have shown that nearly 20% of college women may suffer from anorexia or bulimia . The disease .
develops slowly over a period of months to years during which the sufferer changes her eating patterns to a very .