It is not a made up disorder. It is not a ploy to get compliments. People do not choose to have it; and most of all anorexia is not a cry for attention. The severity of this often over looked disease is far greater than the average person realizes. The statistics and symptoms of Anorexia Nervosa are bone chilling- in more than one way.

“In magazines, television, and everything else skinny is so in trend. I think it’s more of a mental disorder than anything. I think it’s just you repeatedly telling yourself you’re not good enough. I think it’s you obsessing over the amount of calories in something. I think it’s avoiding every social event that deals with food. I think it’s you seeing how many meals you can skip in a row. I think it’s you standing on a scale every morning when you wake up and every night before you go to bed. I think it’s you holding your hair up with your head down in the toilet because you can’t stand the fact that you actually let yourself eat that. I think it’s looking at almost every other girl on the street and comparing yourself. That is what anorexia and bulimia is. Loosing weight is simply a side effect. People would think you can just stop once you lose the weight you needed to, but at that point it’s turned into such an addiction you can’t stop.” Junior Toni Kerr explains the reality of a disease that cripples countless teens around the world.

Self starvation, excessive weight loss and an intense fear of weight gain are only the beginning of a long and life threatening list of symptoms that make up a potentially deadly and in most cases, silent disease.

According to the National Eating Disorder website, approximately half a million teens struggle with at least one form of an eating disorder. 90 to 95 percent of anorexia sufferers are women and girls, making it the most prevalent psychiatric diagnosis in women. 5 to 20 percent of those sufferers will die from anorexia making it the disease with the highest death rate of any mental health condition.

Unfortunately, the signs of Anorexia are not always out in the open. However if you know what to look for, it can be caught early. Some of the signs include dramatic weight loss, preoccupation with weight, food, fat grams, calories and dieting, refusal to eat certain foods, frequent comments about being “fat,” excuses to avoid mealtimes, and excessive exercising. All of these things deprive the body of the food and nutrients that it needs to survive and in turn creates a long list of health consequences that include: abnormally slow heart rate, low blood pressure, a reduction of bone density, muscle loss severe dehydration, fainting, fatigue and dry hair and skin.

Eating disorders stem from long-standing behavioral, biological, emotional, psychological, interpersonal, and social factors. One of the most prevalent of these factors is the social aspect. Society’s obsession with vanity has contributed exponentially to this growing disease. Teens, especially girls, will look to magazines and clothing ads to determine the definition of beauty, which is the opposite of what should be happening. These ads and campaigns are giving the impression that “skinny is beautiful,” causing girls to resort to extreme measures to become what they see in the media. Knowing this fact, head cheer coach Christi Bekke actively watches for warning signs and constantly reminds her cheerleaders that they are beautiful- that eating is beautiful. “If I worry about one of my girls being bulimic, ill have another girl follow them to the bathroom and not give them the opportunity.” Coach Bekke emphasized the fact that girls should feel beautiful with who they are and never feel the need to change due to someone else’s opinion, a concept that not only all girls, but people in general should feel comfortable doing.

An obsession with body image is a common symptom in anorexia sufferers, but if only they knew what other people actually thought, they might not feel the need to change in the first place. Senior Ethan Lack says, “I think that so many girls resort to that because of the false impression of perfection that society shows in magazines and on social networks. I personally think that it’s a sad thing when a girl would resort to something so harsh just to appeal to people who already like you the way you are.”

Treatment of anorexia begins with careful attention to the patients’ medical and nutritional needs. A more long-term treatment will include psychotherapy or psychological counseling. These forms of treatments do not always assure recovery, and may take more than one try to work; however, they have proven to be the most effective options. Early treatment is always best.

There are no known ways to fully prevent anorexia, but there are precautions that teens and parents can take. Teens can avoid comparing themselves to models in the media and creating their own definition of what beautiful is to them. Parents can encourage healthy views of themselves and others, avoid making comments linking being thin to being popular or beautiful and have a healthy approach to food and exercise and stay away from punishing or rewarding children with food.

Another unfortunate fact of this disease is that insurance coverage for treatment of eating disorders is inadequate and research is severely under-funded, but progression in stopping this rampant disease is slowly picking up.

So if ever you see signs or are concerned that someone you know may have anorexia or any eating disorder, speak up, because everyone should get a chance at help, and no one should ever feel like they aren’t good enough; they are.