When you look at yourself in the mirror, you usually want to see an attractive person with a nice, slim body and pretty face. Appearance is extremely important to many people in our society. In the United States, at a very young age, women are given the message, "in order to be happy and successful, you must be thin" (http://www.mirror-mirror.org). Mostly teenage girls are under a lot of pressure to be thin or physically fit. Adolescence is known to be one of the most stressful times in a person�s life. They begin to discover who they are and become more independent. Their bodies start to develop. Puberty for them can be a very emotional, stressful and frightening time. People sometimes fear that the weight they might gain at this time is permanent. They might panic and suddenly feel desperate to deduct the weight they have put on. However, once the physical changes during this time stop, their weight will usually stabilize and go to the body's natural set point without the need for dieting. Unfortunately, many teenagers do not take this into consideration.They feel that they must make a drastic change in their weight. Instead of learning what�s on the inside of a person matters, they feel it�s what�s on the outside that counts. Sometimes teenage girls learn to diet from watching their mothers. They might start by dieting and then gradually becoming anorexic or bulimic. They don�t usually realize how these eating disorders will effect them and just believe they will help them lose weight and have a happy teenage environment. Because of their psychological "need" to be thin, they resort to possibly starving themselves or the case of bingeing and purging. They start to deprive the body of proper nutrition that the body needs to survive. As well as appearance, many factors lead up to eating disorders such as Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia Nervosa. In our society, in order to look good many people, especially adolescent girls, become anorexic or bulimic in an attempt to reach unrealistic goals, however they encounter a physical and mental struggle while pursuing this.

Anorexia Nervosa is an eating disorder that is to teens a common way to reach the goal of being thin. Anorexia is defined as, "persistent lack of appetite not caused by repletion," or "extreme body emaciation caused by emotional or psychological aversions to foods and eatings" (The New Encyclopedia Britannica). This eating disorder occurs when people starve themselves for a long period of time. Like any other eating disorder, Anorexia Nervosa is extremely unhealthy for the body, mostly because it deprives the body of nutrients that people need everyday in order to survive. As many teens care about being thin, they resort to Anorexia Nervosa as their diet, which has many causes and symptoms along with it.

Anorexia is an eating disorder with multiple factors. There are many causes revolving around why someone would starve himself or herself to be thin. In many cases, it isn�t always the desire to be thin. As that might be the primary cause of becoming anorexic, many factors contribute to it. It has been said that most anorexics are perfectionists (http://www.mirror-mirror.org). They set very high standards for themselves and real ambitious goals to reach. They put the needs of other people ahead of their own needs. In some cases, their families have high expectations for their children and don�t always give them a lot of independence. Teenage girls need independence and because of that, they feel determined to prove their competence. They feel that the only control they have in their life is in the area of food and weight. They tend to consider themselves to be fat, despite what they actually are and they have low self-esteem. They then feel that they don�t deserve to eat. In their case, it�s easier to diet then dealing with their problems directly. Their hunger is strongly denied. Overall, there are many causes that lead up to becoming an anorexic, not just for appearance.

Anorexia Nervosa has many signs and symptoms along with it. Signs of Anorexia vary. Most people become withdrawn, exercise excessively, have an obsession with calories, go through depression and irritability, complaints of being too fat, fainting and difficulty eating in public places. Anorexia Nervosa has many physical symptoms that have lead to death before. Many of these symptoms vary such as muscle weakness, hair loss, irregular or no menstruation, dizziness, bloating, fatigue, constipation, loss of bone mass, kidney and liver damage, decreased metabolic rate, osteoporosis, and low potassium. As some teen girls think Anorexia Nervosa is beneficial for appearance, it has devastating effects on the body.

Bulimia Nervosa is another common eating disorder involving teenage girls. Bulimia Nervosa is characterized as "periods of binging or extreme overindulgence in food" (The New Encyclopedia Britannica). It is otherwise known as a cycle of consuming large amounts of food followed by throwing up to throw away unwanted calories in the body. There are three types of Bulimia Nervosa that infect the body. There is Simple Bulimia Nervosa, Anorexia-Bulimia Nervosa and Multi-impulsive Bulimia Nervosa. All of these forms of Bulimia are extremely similar eating disorders in teenage girls that are caused by multiple factors.

Like Anorexia Nervosa, Bulimia Nervosa has many causes of it. It has been said that the real cause of Bulimia remains unknown but most likely by genetics (Rowan, Peter MD., www.priory-hospital.co.uk/htm). The main possible reason for becoming Bulimic is the desire to be thin and attempts to restrict weight. It protects the sufferer from experiencing unbearable emotions. The main benefit for most people suffering from Bulimia Nervosa is that it gives a large sense of control feel, being able to throw up all of the things you eat. Bulimics differ from Anorexics because they tend to be more social and outgoing, however like anorexics they do not feel secure with their own self worth. Somehow, food becomes their only source of comfort. They are usually mildly under confident, unassertive and strive for other people�s approval. They usually are the type with popular friends. Most of them experience a destructive relationship with a boyfriend. Usually their normal diet is not very successful with many restraints and they feel they must break it down into bouts of cheating. Bulimia has many causes and factors that lead up to unhealthy symptoms and noticeable signs.

Unlike anorexics, bulimics usually know that they have a problem and are more likely to seek help. However, they still experience many symptoms. The signs of bulimia may vary such as binge eating, secretive eating, laxative or diuretic abuse, weight fluctuations, fasting, self deprecating thoughts following eating, avoidance of restaurants, severe self-criticism and mood swings. As well as signs, symptoms play a large role that can lead to permanent medical complications such as dehydration, headaches, loss of menstruation, depression, hair loss, anemias, cardiac arrest, kidney and liver damage, low blood pressure, ulcers, gastric dilation, and tears of esophagus. Although bulimics might realize their problem, they might not take care of it which may result in them experiencing awful medical complications that may lead to death. For appearance and other causes, teenage girls will be willing to undergo these problems from being bulimic.

Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia Nervosa, the two common eating disorders in teenagers are incredibly unhealthy, physically and mentally however there is a hope for recovery. For both of these eating disorders, recovery is not an easy task for the sufferer and the people around them who care. It can be very tedious to tell an anorexic or bulimic to stop their eating disorder or that it is bothersome to you because the sense of control that they feel when they complete their anorexic and bulimic actions might increase as someone tells them to stop. The feeling power is an endless dream to them and by people telling them to stop, their continuation of the eating disorder acts make them feel powerful. Going to therapy, a practicioner or doctor can be extremely helpful. They usually know possibilities for good treatment. Gaining normal weight is essential for treatment. Anorexia and Bulimia differ in that area because usually in Bulimia the problem isn�t losing excess weight but giving the body many medical complications by the bingeing and purging. Bulimics might very well be normal weight but very sick in their body whereas anorexics usually are deprived of the normal weight needed for them to survive. People with these illnesses can recover because they are linked closely with development and maturation (Rowan, Peter MD. www.priory-hospital.co.uk/htm). The continuation of maturing after emotional regression is often associated with recovery. As people grow they go through several stages in getting better, like regaining normal weight. Usually as they get better, they will begin to live a normal life again. Therefore as much as these eating disorders create a devastating effect on the body, they have ways of recovery.

The eating disorders common in teenager, Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia Nervosa are known as the two most tenacious eating disorders. As well as teenagers, it�s been estimated that five million to ten million American women struggle with some sort of eating disorder (http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb). As a result for the need to look good, a survey was taken recently in England by young adolescents. This survey said that fifty seven and one half percent of the people said that appearance is the biggest concern in their life. As appearance and the need to be thin are important to many girls, Anorexia and Bulimia are common enough to have many statistics. Nineteen percent of female adolescents have Anorexia Nervosa and four percent of college women have Bulimia Nervosa. Five percent of people who have been anorexic develop Bulimia. Without treatment, sixty percent of people with these eating disorders will die (ANRED.com). These statistics emphasize the fact of Anorexia and Bulimia being somewhat common and fatal in our society today.

Society today puts a large emphasis on appearance especially to be thin. This attracts teenage girls therefore they feel a strong need to be thin. They also have many stressful problems in their life. These factors can lead up to becoming anorexic or bulimic. These two eating disorders have an effect on people physically, mentally and socially. Many teenage girls use these eating disorders for a way to look better on the outside and create problems in their life from it on the outside.

"Anorexia." Los Angeles Times. http://www.proquest.umi.com/pqdweb 5/22/02

"Eating Disorders." http://www.mirror-mirror.org 5/17/02

Bulimia Nervosa." www.priory-hospital.co.uk/htm 5/22/02

www.ANRED.com 5/28/02