Anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder that mainly affects adolescents and young women. It stands for the loss of at least 15% of expected body weight (Long). The disease is characterized by an obsessive fear of gaining weight; through this fear, the person adopts dangerous eating habits that prevent weight gain. According to 2011 statistics anorexia is ranked as the third most common chronic disease among adolescents, furthermore, eating disorders also have the highest mortality rate of any mental illness (Wilkins). Anorexia is a deadly disorder that I was only slightly aware of. I was aware that anorexia was characterized by significant weight loss, yet I never expected the lives of two of my best friends to be governed by this disorder. At the beginning of my freshman year in college, I discovered that my friends were losing weight. weight, they were already on the skinny side. However they seemed to get even smaller. A few months later I was shocked to hear a phone call from their mother to mine. My two best friends are twins and their mother has noticed their weight loss. She started to worry, so she made the difficult decision to take them to the doctor. Things progressed quickly, they started seeing a weight training doctor and a psychologist. Since they lived in Florida, I had a hard time believing that this disease could be so serious. However, when they came to visit me during the fall semester, I was shocked to hug them and find that they were skin and bones. When I went to restaurants with me, I was even more shocked by how argumentative and volatile they were at the table and how they argued with each other. They counted every piece of food on their plate and ate extremely......half of paper......pr 2011. .Crow, S.J. et al. “Eating Disorder Statistics.” ANAD. National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Related Disorders, 2009. Web. April 20, 2011. "Eating disorders become increasingly common." Today's Science On File: page no. Today's Science. Facts On File News Services, November 30, 1995. Web. April 20, 2011. "Health Guide: Anorexia Nervosa." The New York Times Health Guide, 02/07/2011. Web. April 20, 2011. "Anorexia Nervosa ." Mental health. World Health Organization, 2011. Web. 20 April 2011. .