Anorexia News: NIMH to Start Long-Term Study of Anorexia Nervosa

To NIMH-NIH Authorities: Re: Start of the Long-Term Study of Anorexia Nervosa. Anorexia is a protracted burden in schoolgirls, college students and other young and "older" women, which has not been solved so far because of false thinking about the condition ("eating disorder") and other misconceived theories-ideas ("body image etc). If you need useful results and evidence of the root cause(s) of the rampant Anorexia you had better to investigate the adverse effect of the CONDOMIZATION of the (ilicit) female sexuality, of the girls and young women. It is overdue time to provide solution to the life-, health- and reproduction threatening disorder in young women. There are initial results in this regard in an Anorexia study of young female patients and the exposure to (use of) condoms and/or withdrawal practice, which corroborate this fact of life. Further information could be available upon request. Arne N. Gjorgov, MD, MPH, PhD (UNC-SPH, Chapel Hill, NC) Author of the "Barrier Con

comment continued: See the American Academy of Pediatric's definition of the disease. Also take a moment to watch a free diagnostic video about this disease in children, produced by the Kartini Foundation, a non-profit, and narrated by Jamie Lee Curtis, at http://www.kartinifoundation.com/spotting_the_tiger.asp. I promise you will learn something.

bhanu - You are correct that anorexia is characterized by a distorted body image and a delusional (literally) obsession with fat. This is a symptom, not the cause. Evidence from genetic studies of twins points to the fact that poor body image - or any other "volitional" act by a person is not, indeed _cannot_ be the cause of the disease. You simply can't give yourself anorexia anymore than you can give yourself leukemia. This is a genetically driven disease. Whenever you are unsure if a theory regarding this disease makes sense, insert the word 'cancer' for anorexia, and see if you believe it. For example: "watching images on TV that made me uncomfortable about my body gave me cancer." Or: "My cancer started when I was angry with my mother. It was the only aspect of my life that I could control." Once we put the disease in this context we begin to see how nonsensical some of these explanations truly are. For a scientific understanding of the disease see the American Academy of Pediatri

I got my BA in Psycholgy too. I enjoyed learning about this disease from reading your article.

I welcome all perspectives. You both bring up some good points.

Not sure who you are referring to Mos but while I don't care to spend the time at the moment to look such references up, it would be more beneficial if you wrote a scientific article of your own disputing such alleged psuedo-science.

There is no scientific evidence I am aware of that links the media and it's messages to an increase in anorexia, in any populations. It would be great if AC would reference the "studies" that purport this to be true. While it is tempting to think there is a link, it would be the same as claiming you can get diabetes from looking at pictures of cheese burgers. As far as we know, it doesn't happen this way. Please, for everyone's sake don't engage in pseudo-science, regardless how tempting it may be.

Thank you all for your comments!

Really good article. I am a recovering annorexic, my teen years were the worst times, now the mental part of the disease is what affects me more than anything. I am normal weight now, but I know how important is is to find understanding of this disease.

Good article. I understand there is a growing # of cases of women 35 and older with the disease, unlike in years past.

Great article. Thanks for the information. :)