palmera). People diagnosed with anorexia become so obsessed and focused on losing weight and becoming slimmer that they forget about the people in their life. Along with affecting their social life, anorexia nervosa has a negative effect self-esteem, due to victims belief that they are “overweight…when they are [actually] starved” or malnourished (anad).
Their self-esteem suffers due this belief of being heavier than they are. Many who develop this disease are not confident and have body image issues. They are constantly assessing or staring at themselves in the mirror, wanting to be skinnier and lose more weight. … Rudine Howards was a long time sufferer of anorexia. She was featured on Oprah from 1989 to her unfortunate death in 1994. Her mental illness had consumed her life and she struggled to stop. During Oprah’s heart prints featuring Rudine, you can she her struggle finding the will and method to break away from the anorexia consuming her. She was seen talking to Traci Gold, a woman who had recently overcome her own anorexia, agonizingly ask “but how do you do it” (youtube). She can be quoted saying that “she can’t do it” when she was faced with someone who had won against their illness (yutube). Rudine had many times, throughout her life, overcome and relapsed back into her anorexic ways. Personal distress is a big aspect of being
anorexic. Like in Rudine’s case, victims of this illness believe they cannot overcome this disease and have no hope.