What causes anorexia nervosa and who can get it?
We do not yet know what causes anorexia, but it is likely to be a combination of factors involving your genes, biological factors, what is happening in your life and your social environment. These things interact in different ways for each person, so that the pathway to developing anorexia is different for each individual. Sometimes it can start after someone says something to you about your appearance, which then sparks off the fear of being fat, but that in itself is not the ‘cause’ of anorexia. Sometimes young people feel that modern society puts pressure on them to be thin – lots would like to look like celebrities and supermodels on the television and in magazines. In societies that do not associate thinness with attractiveness, eating disorders are rare. But anorexia is more complex than this and is often linked to feelings of low self-esteem and a wish to try to cope with things that are beginning to feel unmanageable. People with anorexia often see their eating habits as one of
