What was once classified as a physical health problem is now diagnosed as a psychological mental disorder. Eating disorders distort the perception of the human body, causing the person to become obsessed with losing weight and losing their body image. This not only causes serious physical damage, but also mental and emotional damage. Many teenage girls develop eating disorders because of their idea that thinness is the equivalent of beauty and strength. The novel Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson shows the life and struggle of a young girl struggling with an eating disorder. Eating disorders affect a person's physical appearance and control their thoughts and actions. Eating disorders are characterized by three different forms: anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa. Anorexia involves limiting daily calorie intake in order to lose or maintain a specific weight. Bulimia involves eating large amounts of food in short periods of time, called binge eating. Next, bulimics attempt to rid the body of ingested foods, usually by purging, vomiting, taking laxatives, or exercising for long periods of time. (Engel, Reiss and Dombeck) “She was gagging, a finger stuck in her throat. Almost everything she had eaten was splattered on the mulch: a bag of chips, most of a carton of onion dip, two fudge brownies, and a slice of strawberry shortcake,” shows the activities of 'a bulimic (Anderson 146). In the first century, the existence of eating disorders was suspected. Binge eating and purging were present in 700 BC by the Romans who ate extravagantly at banquets and then got rid of the consumed food by forcing it out of their bodies, which would then allow them to continue eating. Another example...... middle of article ...... mental disorders are diagnosed as a psychological mental disorder. Works Cited Anderson, Laurie Halse. Winter girls. New York: Penguin Group, 2009. “Anorexia Nervosa” print. NEDA. Nurture hope. No. Internet. February 20, 2014."Anorexia Nervosa Fact Sheet." Womens Health. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Internet. February 20, 2014. “Eating Disorders.” National Institute of Mental Health. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Internet. February 20, 2014. .Engel, Bridget, Natalie Staats Reiss and Mark Dombeck. “Causes of eating disorders”. Mental help. Np, February 2, 2007. Web. February 20 2014. .