National Eating Disorder Awareness Week: Signs Someone You Know Is Battling One
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Obsession with or fear of one’s appearance
Your friend can either have a new fascination with viewing her appearance, or a new fear of it. You may catch her looking over her own body often. Even when sitting at a table, she might look over her arms, grab at her skin, or look at her thighs and pinch the skin. She might look at her reflection more than usual, finding reflective surfaces everywhere she can. This can be a compulsion to confirm that she hasn’t gained weight since the last time she looked at herself. On the flip side, in some cases, the affected individual might become afraid of her own image. If there is some body dysmorphia occurring, she may believe she looks different than she does and will go to extreme lengths not to look at herself.
