Anorexia Nervosa

First Described in the late 1800s, anorexia nervosa, or voluntary self-starvation. Remained a rare disorder until the 1960s when the incidence began to increase steadily. Brunch’s now classic observational paper delineated the basic problem of young women fighting for personal control in a stifling family environment. These young women were “perfect”, according to the standards of their high society families, but had never been given the freedom to develop a sense of self. They were subconsciously rebelling the only way they could-by not eating. Originally thought to be a disease limited to white, upper-class women in western societies, it is now spreading into other races, socioeconomic classes, and throughout the developed world. The prevalence in the United States is now estimated to be 0.7 to 1% of young women. Onset has a bimodal distribution; the first peak occurring at 13 to 14 years and the second at 17 to 18 years.

Source:
Debra A. Krummel, Penny M. Kris-Etherthon. Nutrition in Women's Health. Aspen Publishers, 1996.