A beautiful sixteen-year-old girl, bright eyed and lively; everyone says “she so fun to be around” or “she always smiling”. These comments soon transitioned into “I had no idea” or “I should have realized before”. I was one who said “I should have known”. This beautiful bright eyed loving and fun girl is one of my best friends, Olivia. Coming from an all-girls high school in Saint Louis, every girl enjoyed to boast about her love of food and eating, even though we all secretly worried about gaining weight and constantly compared each other to the next. In summer of 2016, after weeks of suddenly missing events or skipping out on girl’s nights, Olivia finally came over before a party. I will never forget the terrified look on her face when she
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Body dysmorphia, a mental disorder in which the diagnosed obsess over some aspects of one’s appearance believing it is severely flawed and attempts to hide or fix their appearance, also relates to several eating disorders. According to Katherine Phillips, MD, “more than 5 million people to about 7.5 million people in the United States alone have Body Dysmorphic Disorder” (Phillips). In addition, “Nearly 11.7 million cosmetic surgical and nonsurgical procedures were performed in the United States in 2007, according to statistics released today by the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery” (“Body Image – About-Face”). Increasingly, the youth population continues to suffer from societies fascination with perfection. Moreover, the shame that follows the admittance of any mental health issue causes many to be afraid to speak about their problem with their sense of self. The increase of diagnosed eating disorders and plastic surgery procedures displays the drastic measures everyday people feel pressured into taking due to societies’ obsession with appearing …show more content…
Appearing to be thin, appearing to be healthy, appearing to be flawless, appearing to be effortless, all changed societies perception of what the perfect person appears to be. We, as a society, have accepted the new understanding of physical excellence. These recognized impractical images slyly urge the public to assume they do not fit this standard of perfection. Similar to my personal experience with my friends, many people are not aware that “In the United States, 20 million women and 10 million men suffer from a clinically significant eating disorder at some time in their life, including anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, binge eating disorder, or EDNOS” (Wade, Keski-Rahkonen, & Hudson, 2011). Given the increasing number of computer manipulated images the notion of plastic surgery and changes to mental health seem normal. The considerable amount of the American population suffering from mental health disorders, such as anorexia and body dysmorphia, directly relates to the social belief in perfect body
Body dysmorphia, a mental disorder in which the diagnosed obsess over some aspects of one’s appearance believing it is severely flawed and attempts to hide or fix their appearance, also relates to several eating disorders. According to Katherine Phillips, MD, “more than 5 million people to about 7.5 million people in the United States alone have Body Dysmorphic Disorder” (Phillips). In addition, “Nearly 11.7 million cosmetic surgical and nonsurgical procedures were performed in the United States in 2007, according to statistics released today by the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery” (“Body Image – About-Face”). Increasingly, the youth population continues to suffer from societies fascination with perfection. Moreover, the shame that follows the admittance of any mental health issue causes many to be afraid to speak about their problem with their sense of self. The increase of diagnosed eating disorders and plastic surgery procedures displays the drastic measures everyday people feel pressured into taking due to societies’ obsession with appearing …show more content…
Appearing to be thin, appearing to be healthy, appearing to be flawless, appearing to be effortless, all changed societies perception of what the perfect person appears to be. We, as a society, have accepted the new understanding of physical excellence. These recognized impractical images slyly urge the public to assume they do not fit this standard of perfection. Similar to my personal experience with my friends, many people are not aware that “In the United States, 20 million women and 10 million men suffer from a clinically significant eating disorder at some time in their life, including anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, binge eating disorder, or EDNOS” (Wade, Keski-Rahkonen, & Hudson, 2011). Given the increasing number of computer manipulated images the notion of plastic surgery and changes to mental health seem normal. The considerable amount of the American population suffering from mental health disorders, such as anorexia and body dysmorphia, directly relates to the social belief in perfect body