ians hospitalize anorexia patients until they are nutritionally stable, while others prefer to work with patients in a more safe and secure family setting. When hospitalized, privileges are sometimes granted as a reward in return for gaining weight. Individual psychotherapy is also necessary in the treatment of anorexia to help the patient understand the disease process and its effects. Therapy focuses on the patients relationships with her family, friends, and the reasons she may have fallen into the trap of anorexia. As a patient learns more about their condition, they are more often willing to try to help themselves recover. In treating anorexia nervosa, it is extremely important to remember that immediate success does not guarantee a permanent cure. Many times, even after successful hospital treatment and return to normal weight, patients suffer relapses. An average female model weighs 23% less than the recommended weight for a woman. Maintaining a weight 20% below your expected body weight fits the criteria for the emotional eating disorder known as anorexia (Pirke & Ploog, 1984). According to medical weight standards, most models fit into the category of being anorexic (Garfinkle & Garner, 1990). It was however only about one hundred years ago that Professor Ernest Lasegue of the University of Paris finally identified anorexia as an illness (Pirke & Ploog, 1984). 95% of individuals with eating disorders are female, and now researchers are also pointing out a cumulative impact that may cause the death rate to be as high as 20 percent. Women may appear to survive anorexia only to succumb to an early death years later; the end result of intense abuse on their bodies, especially the heart (White 2000). Body dissatisfaction, a precursor to eating disorders, has become the basic norm in females. By age 13, 53% of girls are unhappy with their bodies and feel they are too fat. By age 18, the percentage has jumped to an asto...
