Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story1988

Narrator:
The affliction which eventually destroyed Karen Carpenter is one that plagues many, many young women like her. The name of this private obsession, anorexia nervosa.

Woman #1:
What IS anorexia nervosa?

Narrator:
Anorexia nervosa is a condition of self starvation, which affects mostly women in their adolescence or young adulthood. Sufferers desperately want to be thin, and often transform their bodies to such an extent that menstruation ceases, and they revert to a pre-pubescent stage.

Woman #2:
Do anorexics ever get hungry?

Narrator:
The term anorexia means lack of appetite, yet those who suffer from it are obsessed with food and its preparation, while they deny their own hunger and their body's need for nutrients.

Woman #3:
Do they really think they look attractive like that?

Narrator:
Anorectics often have a distorted perception of their actual body size. Although experts still cannot account for this basic misrecognition, they do point out that the rigorous self discipline imposed by the anorectic is often the cause of an extreme exhilaration or high which accompanies and rewards her denial of food.