History and current state of treatment for eating disorders in Romania

Romania has a population of around 22.5 million of which 51 per cent are female and around 36 per cent are girls and women between 10 and 45 years of age. Just over half of the total population live in cities. There have been major changes in Romania since 1989 and these have had important effects upon the lives of women. Women have come to be more preoccupied with issues of individuality and now show interest in new cultural models. Slimness has come to be highly valued. There has been a growing interest both in women's magazines offering dieting schedules and in western movies showing eating attitudes and behaviours as symptoms of disorder. None of this sort of information was public in Romania before 1989. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and Eating Disorders Association.