Anorexia

Running head: ARE YOU GOING

Are You Going to Eat That? Tracing the History

of Major Theories of Anorexia Nervosa

Brooke Pillsbury

Washington State University Vancouver

Abstract

Eating disorders have started to affect the people of today. Past eating disorders had been for religious reasons, or a martyr for change. The current western cultural norms have taught women, to be thin is too be happy. This creates an unhealthy situation where one tries to lose weight. To diagnose an eating order is also a challenge, coupled with the understanding the confusing misleading name of an eating disorder such as anorexia nervosa. Coupled with an eating disorder can come other medical of psychological factors. This can multiply the effects of the eating disorder on ones body and psychological state.

Are You Going to Eat That? Tracing the History of Major Theories of Anorexia Nervosa

As the Western society ideals shape to include the thinnest of role models, many people strive to be thin. Jumping from fad diet to lose weight quick ploys, it is no wonder why there are so many documented cases of eating disorders. The medical community has been aware of the eating disorder anorexia since the seventeenth century (Palmer, Mensh, & Matarazzo, 1952). It was not until the 1960s that a new classification of anorexia developed called anorexia nervosa. Although anorexia nervosa is a fairly new nervous eating disorder to the public, only being recognized in the late nineteenth century (Steinhausen, 2002), the prevalence in the media has brought more people to recognize the seriousness of this condition. Between the years of 1960 and 2000, there has been a large increase of the number of scientific articles discussing nervous eating disorders. There are some main issues that average people, and medical professional alike, still struggle to understand. For example, is a nervous eating disorder a...