Popular magazines and television programs send messages to women that have an effect on how they view and treat their bodies.

“Our society has created really very unreasonable expectations for women as far as their physical appearance and a lot of these are extraordinarily unrealistic and unattainable,” Bruce Whitehead, doctor at a Dallas PrimaCare Medical Center, said.

To cope with the pressure of looking a certain way, some women turn to controlling their food intake with anorexia or bulimia.

“One thing that I think is in common with both disorders is a need to feel some sense of control yourself over something,” said Karen Settle, a psychologist at the SMU Health Center.

SMU student Kelly Coppock had a long battle with anorexia and felt that, “I kind of made that person not myself but someone that controlled me and that I like succumbed to. It’s like very like taxing,” Coppock said.

Starving, binging and purging have negative effects on the body.

“You do have a lot of organs, your mind, and various other systems that do suffer with an eating disorder,” Settle said.

Those who suffer may not know there’s something wrong.

“Somewhat like abusing alcohol or other substances a person can be in denial that it’s a problem. Sometimes the eating disorders can be triggered by dieting so sometimes they’re really clueless that this has become a problem,” Settle said.

But there is hope and the road to recovery is a team effort.

“It generally requires counseling, it requires involvement of the family, a support group, a psychiatrist, and monitoring, and you have to set reasonable goals,” Dr. Whitehead said.

Settle says although it takes time, it’s definitely worth getting better.

“When people get treatment there’s a much higher likelihood of being totally cured,” she said.