ABSTRACT
Vast parts of the world's population are faced with problems of malnutrition and starvation; however, people in more developed nations face a different type of problem concerning eating-eating disorders. Eating disorders are characterized by a preoccupation with food. The shift in societal preference toward a thin physique has led to an increasing prevalence of dieting such that normal eating for North American women is now characterized by dieting. Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia Nervosa are conditions involving disturbed eating behavior and distorted body image. They involve refusal to eat, overeating, impulse eating, and purging. Eating disorders are often a more pass ive form of rebellion combined with an exaggerated acceptance of soc iety's ideali zed "perfect" image and are much more common in females than in males (Wadden & Stunkard, 1987; Ruderman, 1986); however, disorders seem to be increasing in males (Andersen, 1990). In the DSM-III-R were listed five Axis I eating disorders.
