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Anorexia in teenagers Presumably by anorexia you are referring to the eating disorder anorexia nervosa. Anorexia simply means an absence of appetite or a decrease in appetite, and is not necessarily a problem — for example, the decrease in appetite that is experienced after you consume food. Anorexia nervosa on the other hand is a primarily psychological disorder characterized by an obsession with losing weight, to the point of using extreme measures such as starving oneself, inducing vomiting, using medication that decreases appetite or increases metabolic rate, and excessive exercising.
It is true that anorexia nervosa mainly affects women in their teens. The reason for this is not entirely clear, but it is probably because at this age one is particularly impressionable and susceptible to feelings of insecurity and doubt. Although there are several factors that contribute to the disease, the main factors seem to be psychological and social. Even within these factors, there is a lot of complexity and it is difficult to say exactly which factors are playing how much of a role, but there is no doubt that social pressure — the ideals propagated by society — play a role. In their teens, girls are already critical of their bodies and unsure of themselves; add to this the stress placed on being “slim”, sometimes on actually being thin rather than slim, and you have the basic source of the problem.
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