Health - Perfect Illusions

A young woman named Anna Westin wrote in her diary of November 1999, of the toll taken by anorexia that began when she was 17. Anna Died few months later, taking a fatal overdose of painkillers. She was 21 years old.Eating disorders are a growing problem affecting millions of people in the United States, most of them young women. This hidden epidemic, is lethal. Yet sufferers often dont look as gravely ill as they truly are, and hide their illness behind a perfect illusion of normalcy.In Perfect Illusions, you will meet 16-year-old Suni, who is in the early stages of what may be a long and difficult fight with bulimia 26-year-old Marya, who chronicled her 15-year struggle with anorexia and bulimia in the book Wasted and 20-year-old Annie, who became bulimic during a bout with clinical depression in high school. Thoughtful entries from the diary of Anna tell of her ordeal.The parents tell about their desperate efforts to help their daughters, and of the fear, confusion and frustration theyve faced. The documentary also examines the traumatic impact of anorexia and bulimia, on the sufferers loved ones. Families not only deal with the deadly disease, but also with the guilt of real and perceived responsibility.