Skip to main content

5 Hidden Eating Disorders

A new study shows that up to 60 percent of people with eating disorders aren't anorexic or bulimic—and aren't getting the care they need. Danielle Friedman on the warning signs we overlook.

articles/2010/05/02/5-secret-eating-disorders/friedman-secret-eating-disorder_97081_xxpvvb

Getty Images

articles/2010/05/02/5-secret-eating-disorders/friedman-secret-eating-disorder_97081_odd1rr

Perhaps tracing back to after-school TV specials or teen magazines, many Americans still envision “serious” eating disorder cases as stick-thin and sad-eyed—in other words, obvious. Sometimes this stereotype proves to be true, but more often, it doesn’t. The mental illness, like its victims, comes in all shapes and sizes. Underneath a robust exterior can lurk, quite literally, flesh-eating demons.

TRENDING NOW