Some Statistics
• Anorexia and bulimia affect nearly ten million women and one million men (primarily teens and young adults) in reported cases in the United States, and both can be fatal.
• Anorexia nervosa has the highest premature fatality rate of any mental illness. At least one thousand people die every year from anorexia.
• The average age of sufferers is dropping rapidly (as young as elementary school), with peak onset among girls ages eleven to thirteen.
• It’s estimated that another twenty-five million people suffer from binge eating disorder.
• Although teens make up just two percent of cosmetic surgery patients in the United States, these numbers are increasing. According to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, the number of procedures performed on kids aged thirteen to nineteen nearly doubled to 244,124 between 2002 and 2006.
YOU ARE READING
Perfect
PoetryEveryone has something, someone, somewhere else that they’d rather be. For four high-school seniors, their goals of perfection are just as different as the paths they take to get there. Cara’s parents’ unrealistic expectations have already sent her...
