Colleen and Anorexia Nervosa

This is a true story about a friend of mine named Colleen and she has Anorexia Nervosa. Colleen is only 16 years old and about 100 pounds at her normal and appealing weight. She became insecure about her weight due to a variety of issues and sadly became addicted to losing weight. Colleen chose to lose weight by nearly starving herself and exercising herself into a frenzy. She ate only plain salads and low-fat or non-fat foods which was barely enough to keep a rabbit alive. She exercised incessantly and even taught aerobics at a women's health club. Unfortunately, Colleen succeeded in her weight loss and in a little less than one year she was down to a scanty 60 pounds and she was so weak, she ended up in the hospital.

So here we are about a year later and Colleen is not quite 17 years old and being force fed through invasive tubes because she refuses to eat.

Dopamine and serotonin pathways.

A summary of the strategy Zucker et al. (2007) use...

Colleen Moore's Fairy Castle

At times she would even pull the tubes out because she was angered that her skeletal-like body was gaining weight. Colleen was oblivious to the fact that she could die; she just did not seem to care.

I am here to inform Colleen of two main realities. The first thing is not only regarding the damage she is doing to her body, but what she is also doing to herself psychologically. The second reality is, that though it may seem impossible at this time, there is light at the end of tunnel though it may seem to be filled with muck and mire.

First of all, I would like to inform Colleen to know that there are indeed true consequences to her starving her body. Clearly, just the mere fact that she is hospitalized is a given sign. I...