ABSTRACT
There is increasing concern over the emergent phenomenon of eating disorders in the Orthodox Jewish population. Because little formal research has been conducted to determine whether the proportionately high number of eating disorders in this population points to a rise in frequency of incidence or reporting, the data is inconclusive and the controversy continues. The same deliberation regarding the overrepresentation of eating disorders in the general Jewish population similarly remains ongoing. Some speculate that the high numbers are equivalent to those in all upwardly mobile groups (of which Jews are mostly members) and attributable to the same media messages of thinness, as well as the relentless pressures and conflicts regarding achievement and the heightened need for control.
