ABSTRACT
A mother once called my office when she thought her daughter might be in the bathroom throwing up. Pleading for help, she asked, "What is going on in there?" I realized that I needed to explain not only what was going on in the bathroom but what was going on inside her daughter's head. If your daughter is suffering from an overconcern with her body image, from unhealthy dieting practices, or from anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, or binge eating, she has become a victim of our thin crazed society and a victim of a struggle within herself. Her dilemma goes far beyond one of dieting. For her, the pursuit of thinness becomes the pursuit of something much more. When carried to the extreme, the inner world of someone in this pursuit is so complex and varied, so difficult to understand and treat, that eating disorders warrant consideration as one of the most serious mental health epidemics of our time.
