In today's society, we often hear of people who suffer daily from illnesses such
as cancer, AIDS, obsessive-compulsive disorder, phobias, tuberculosis, downs
syndrome and many other types of illness both communicable and non-communicable.
What about the illness that consumes the life of over eight million Americans,
90% being women? "Anorexia nervosa, in medicine a condition characterized
by intense fear of gaining weight or becoming obese, as well as a distorted body
image, leading to an excessive weight loss from restricting food intake and
excessive exercise. Anorexia nervosa is not associated with any preexisting
physical illness. It is found chiefly in adolescents, especially young
women." 1 Anorexia nervosa, according to psychologists is a mental
disorder: "psychological and behavioral syndromes that deviate
significantly from those typical of human beings enjoying good mental health. In
general, a mental disorder involves present distress or impairment in important
areas of functions."2 The illness is brought on by many elements, mainly
negative feelings towards ones appearance, low self-esteem, depression, the need
and want to compete in a sport and be number one, and the need to strive for
perfection. Women today are greatly affected by the need to look perfect. What
woman doesn't want to look like Cindy Crawford, Christy Turlington, Brooke
Shields or Naiomi Campbell (just to name a few)? According to a recent survey in
GLAMOUR magazine, not many. The survey shows that out of 33,000 females who
participated 85% were not Chambers 2 happy with their body and overall
appearance. Women of our generation suffer from the impacts of having a poor
body image, and would go to any lengths to get the look of the latest cover girl
model. The results of this trend, although good for the distributors of diet
pills, fad foods and the so-called miracle drinks, are destroying the young
women of America. What may start out to be a simple diet can quickly turn into a
deadly illness. A dieter who starts by skipping a meal once and a while will
slowly begin to fade away, the illness starts off showing promising results with
visible rapid weight loss, but quickly becomes fatal. The disease is on the rise
amongst athletes, both men and women " Eating disorders originate in the
mind, and like any disease of deception, they are difficult to escape."3 It
is for this very reason that athletes are so susceptible to the illness. Their
minds tell them that in order to be the best, they need to look the best and in
order to look the best they have to be as thin as possible. The illness is
extremely common in gymnastics, and this can be clearly seen in the case of a
young women named Christy Henrich whose life recently fell short when anorexia
took over her mind, body and soul and won. At the young age of twenty-two she
died of multiple organ failure, weighing in at only sixty-one pounds. According
to Dr. David McKinsey, "a person passes the point of no return, and then,
no matter how aggressive the care is, it doesn't work. The major problem is a
severe lack of fuel. The person becomes so malnourished that the liver doesn't
work, the kidneys don't work, and neither do the muscles. The cells no longer
function." 4 Even though her weight showed an improvement from just 47
pounds at the time of her discharge from a previous medical center, to 61 pounds
at the time of Chambers 3 admittance to Research Medical Center in Kansas her
body just could not handle the complications from all the years of abuse. She
was pushed to hard by her coach, and the want to be the perfect gymnast, and it
took her life " Eating Disorders are easily the gravest health problems
facing female athletes, and they affect not just gymnasts, but also swimmers,
distance runners, tennis and volleyball players, divers, and figure skaters.
According to the American College of Sports Medicine, as many as 62% of females
competing in "appearance"sports (like figure skating and gymnastics)
and endurance sports suffer from an eating disorder."