Back in the late 1990s, identical twins Samantha and Michaela Kendall both died as a result of the serious eating disorder known as anorexia nervosa. Sadly, the death of these two young women is not an isolated incident, as anorexia currently has the highest mortality rate of any of the recognised psychiatric illnesses.
Technically, anorexia nervosa is a condition associated with a weight loss of more than 15% of normal body weight, an extreme fear of becoming overweight and a distorted body image. Additionally, for women, there are regular episodes of amenorrhea (lack of periods) (World Health Organization 2007). Often sufferers have periods of compulsive exercise and a high degree of competitiveness. The disease affects around 1% of the population of the UK and the majority of these are in their mid-teens or early twenties. It is ten times more common in women than men — see Box 1.
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