There are several celebrities whose photographs appear in the paper with lurid headlines containing the word “anorexia” or “anorexic”. It has become almost common practice to refer to someone who looks thinner than “normal” in this way, although it is also generally quite inaccurate. Anorexia nervosa, to give its full title, is an eating disorder which is strongly linked to mental illness but has a very physical result. Anorexic people are not just very thin, they are very thin because they have a mindset which tells them that they are too fat and need to diet. This mindset remains even when they have dieted down to a weight that is actually dangerous, hazardous to health and may imperil their life.
When an anorexic looks in the mirror, they report feeling disgusted by how “fat” they look. This is the case even when they are not fat, and indeed so thin that their bones are visible through their skin. It is a condition which requires treatment on a number of fronts at once, as they need counselling to try and make them see that they are not fat as well as some physical treatment in order to get them to a weight that allows them to be healthy. Without a set number of calories and a range of nutrients, a human being cannot function on anything resembling a normal level. They will tire quickly, and may develop brittle bones as well as skin conditions which give them a deeply unhealthy appearance. All the time this is happening, they remain convinced that they are disgustingly fat. Anorexia is not just being thin – it is being trapped in a dangerous cycle of behavior.
