Expert: Joanne - 8/30/2008

Question
how do girls become anorexic? how do they do it? they get hungry, everyone does.

Answer
Samantha

There is no doubt that everyone gets hungry, including those with anorexia!  In fact, anorexics tend to feel hungry a lot, but it is more about control than food or eating.

They are depriving themselves of something that is so normal, believing in some cases that they are not worthy of feeding themselves, or in other cases, they believe that by denying themselves that food that they are in control and have much more discipline than other people.

Anorexia involves so many psychological processes, so the physical feelings of hunger are usually insignificant, and feeling hungry actually allows them to feel powerful as they feel as though they are capable of more self-control than others.

Joanne