Yesterday we told you about a disturbing trend.
Younger and younger girls are developing eating disorders.
What causes them to literally starve themselves
just be thin?
News Specialist Shelley Osterloh has been researching the issue and explains.
The reasons young women develop eating disorders are complex.
They say it's superficial to assume they are only interested in being as thin as possible. But controlling their eating, answers a need.
As one young woman tells us, thinness means beauty... popularity.
It's a way to be accepted.
Betsy Erickson/Anorexia patient: "IF I BECOME A LITTLE THINNER, I WILL FEEL GOOD ABOUT MYSELF."
Like most normal teenage girls, Betsy Erickson accepted the media message that thin is beautiful.
To Betsy, to be thin was to be happy.
She'd searched a long time for happiness. As a small child, she was abused sexually. As an adolescent, she ached to belong.
Betsy Erickson/Anorexia patient: "I FIGURED THIS IS A WAY TO GET IT, TO GET THAT RECOGNITION AND BEAUTY."
Betsy began by trying a healthy diet. After a while, she began obsessively exercising and eating less.
She thought she was safe - not realizing she had fallen into a cycle she might not be able to break.
Betsy Erickson/Anorexia patient: "ALCOHOL AND DRUG ABUSE WERE NEVER APPEALING TO ME, 'CAUSE I KNOW THE HARMS OF THOSE. BUT I NEVER KNEW THE HARMS OF EATING DISORDERS."
Her disorder was just as destructive.
Betsy dropped to nearly 100 pounds, probably doing permanent damage to her body.
She's frail, and gets dizzy and sick easily.
Anorexia patients lose at much as 15 percent of their body weight, develop a weak heart and are often anemic.
Betsy has suffered emotional scars as well.
Betsy Erickson/Anorexia patient: "IT'S CAUSED ME TO BE SO DEPRESSED. AND ISOLATE MYSELF FROM OTHERS BECAUSE I'M SO IN MY OWN LITTLE WORLD."
Actually, her world is larger than you may think.
Studies say as many 40,000 Utah women already have an eating disorder. Eating disorders are the most deadly mental illness.
10 percent of anorexia patients will die.
Betsy is surviving.
She's recovering at the Center for Change - an eating disorders clinic in Orem - where the regimen is therapy, eating, and talking about what happened to her.
In this session, patients like her, share what drove them to get help.
Girl in Group: "IT WASN'T UNTIL I COULDN'T FUNCTION. I COULDN'T GET OUT OF BED IN THE MORNING. I COULDN'T SMILE. I COULDN'T DO ANYTHING."
Girl in Group: "YOU GET TO A POINT WHERE YOUR EATING DISORDER HAS INTERFERED WITH YOUR LIFE SO MUCH AND INTERFERED WITH YOUR DAY TO DAY ACTIVITIES THAT YOU JUST WANT IT GONE."
Betsy now realizes she's a worthwhile person who can, with help, overcome her debilitating mental illness.
Betsy Erickson/Anorexia patient: "PUTTING THAT RESPONSIBILITY ON ME MADE ME LOOK AT MY LIFE AND SAY OKAY, DO I WANT TO BE UNHAPPY OR SHOULD I JUST GO IN AND DO THIS, AND I DECIDED I WANT TO BE HAPPY."
Betsy, and others, recovering from anorexia or bulimia say if you suspect your loved one has an eating disorder, do something about it.
They say even though they pretended they didn't want help, inside they were screaming for it.
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