Sometimes it's a miracle that people can walk away from personal crises and reclaim their sanity. There's something very liberating about the sense of closure and new beginnings. However, for people with eating disorders, it is never possible to emerge unscathed. If one is fortunate enough to heal from the physical ills of anorexia or bulimia, it is still a lifelong struggle to recover from the emotional and psychological trauma.

Eating disorders have always received attention from the media and the public. But the illnesses have been looked upon as grotesque, and the attitude toward victims has been of a fascinated freak-show variety. Unfortunately, eating disorders have become a hot topic for talk shows and tabloids rather than a serious medical and psychological consideration.

It is often too easy for society to be mesmerized by tragedies such as these, for there is a mysterious aura about eating disorders. Americans pitied Karen Carpenter's death caused by years of anorexia. But the public has failed to comprehend the stark reality that eating disorders are quickly becoming a national epidemic.

According to the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders (ANAD), eating disorders afflict an estimated seven million women and one million men. An article in Mademoiselle magazine (December 1993) stated that as many as 30 percent of women in college and graduate school show symptoms of an eating disorder. Undoubtedly, many athletes also struggle with the disorders.

The problem with America's position on eating disorders is that many are quick to judge victims of anorexia and bulimia. But too few are equipped to understand the complexity of causes which lead to the illnesses.

Though the causes are enumerable, the similarities between victims are profound -- certainly, it is about more than the desire to be thin. For many women (few victims are men), the internalization of society's expectations set in at an early age. Women are to be composed, obedient, nurturing and attractive -- "sugar, spice and everything nice. " Afterall, it's an American ambition to reach the promised land of fulfillment, and for women, beauty is often the mythical key to its gates.

In our society's determination of the beauty "standard," it is clear that very few women could possibly achieve the goal. In addition, women do not own the same power that men do. Thus, eating disorders often are the manifestation of a struggle between conforming to standards and attaining happiness and control.

The complicated matters in this issue becomes the confusion between moral character or self control and true illness. Victims' lives are saturated by messages that food is sinful and thinness is attractive. So, they conclude that their self-worth is measured by pounds and calories.

Beyond the superficial measure of beauty, there are consequential physical results that deserve acknowledgement. Similar to alcoholism or drug addictions, eating disorders are another form of substance abuse. Additionally, eating disorders can lead to other medical complications such as cardiac failure and osteoporosis.

Despite the dangers, however, bulimia and anorexia are not considered priorities in the medical community. Americans continue to disregard the millions of victims who suffer (even die) from bulimia and anorexia.

Eating disorders cannot be dismissed as a "women's issue." The effects of the illnesses transcend all boundaries of age, race and sex. It is not a schoolgirl problem or phase a few "unstable" women go through. Rather, it is a living nightmare for many, a fixation upon unrealistic ideals.

Many bulimics and anorexics are unwilling to come forward for help because of the stigma attached to their illnesses. Society often dismisses eating disorders, charging that victims are merely "starving" for attention. However, the underlying factor, the element most common among all victims, is that they are starving for happiness and sanity in an unsympathetic society.