What happens to anorexic teenagers when they become anorexic young women?

They wilt like flowers unable to cope with the ongoing stress of a more complex and demanding environment.

See if you can find where you are in this design.

Reader's question: when does bulimia start? - This is a challenging question that I've broadened to include all eating disorders. It's challenging because what is happening and what we know are not the same. The consensus in the 80's was that eating disorders were a teen age phenomenon, with symptoms appearing when a person was around 13 years. But now we see eating disorder symptoms appearing in children as young as nine. I receive questions and stories from women in their 50's, 60's and 70's who suffer from eating disorders. In my practice I see people whose full blown symptoms didn't appear until they were in their 20's or even older.

I wish all of us the courage, determination and commitment to hear the Zen master's response to the naive challenger. Moving beyond life limits created by an eating disorder and being fully present and functioning in what life presents to us is the great recovery challenge.  *pix