With more an more people turning to healthy eating there is always going to be those that go to extremes. Women desperately trying to look good by losing weight are always at risk of developing Anorexia Nervosa through excessive dieting. Women aren't the only sex at risk as more and more men are developing Anorexia Nervosa too.
Anorexics see themselves as obese no matter how much they weigh or how thin they look in the mirror. Sadly, they can't see themselves as anything other and refuse to seek help or accept it when offered, and simply diet until, for 10 to 20 percent of Anorexia Nervosa suffers they eventually die from related complications.
Most sufferers are often perfectionists that can be very strict with themselves and set high and unrealistic goals that will not lead to anything other than failure. Often what leads to this behaviour is a lack of control in some other part of their life. They realize that they can gain some control back or the power they feel from being in control of at least one part of their life, by dieting. This slowly turns into an obsession as they self monitor their food intake and their weight, as they gain satisfaction from finally being in control of something.
This obsession or focus on constant monitoring of calories and weighing themselves helps them block out unwanted feelings and emotions. So it can be seen as a symptom of possible mental health problems, especially around self-esteem or what I prefer to refer to as self-acceptance. This need for control doesn't help them as they live in denial and refuse to seek help basically because they don't feel they deserve the attention and most feel they don't deserve to eat: this tying into problems with self-acceptance.
However bleak the picture painted in this article so far, remember that the majority of Anorexia Nervosa suffers do not succumb to the illness and help is at hand