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Is it the media? Is it parenting? Or is it something innate?

Plenty of people look at anorexia and attempt to find one true cause, something that may be able to be eliminated. They examine articles and studies. They look at teen girls.

Some will point the finger at celebrity and those who become more famous by making themselves somehow less. Hollywood seems to shrink girls and women, to package them in a size zero or smaller.

And of course the media does pick up on this. Print magazines feature shrinking celebrities with captions like "How she did it and how you can too." The television magazines have news cameras that follow as closely as the paparazzi.

Actresses, singers and models, therefore, spend much of their time in the spotlight. This focus on modeling has made its way to the runway and arguments are being made that suggest too thin models set a poor example for other young women everywhere. And so the debate begins.

Is it the media that leads young women to anorexia? Do print, television and internet photos and stories spark something in them?

I don't believe so. I don't believe that the media can cause anyone to react, to force them to shrink themselves to a level that is unhealthy - particularly teens whose parents know what to look for.

Is that to blame the parents - is it to say that parents who don't pay attention or who pay too much attention are at fault when a child develops an eating disorder? Again, I do not believe so.

I do believe that parents can play a role in their child's eating habits. I believe that parents can play a role in the emphasis that their child places on weight. I also believe, however, that parents can teach their child a healthy lifestyle - one that focuses on a balanced, healthy diet and exercise.

The challenge, however, is that everyone makes choices and there is something within that drives the decisions that they make. I suppose that could lead to my making a suggestion that the vulnerabilities that may lead to anorexia are innate.

To some extent, I believe that they are. There is plenty of evidence that describes a certain "type" of person who develops an eating disorder - someone who has a strong drive to succeed; someone with a strong desire to please others; someone who feels insecure.

All of these traits are typical (arguably, even in the celebrities and models that teens and tweens emulate). However, not everyone who exhibits them will develop anorexia or another eating disorder.

How then can you predict whether or not an individual is vulnerable to developing an eating disorder? Watch their habits, listen when they talk. Encourage them to talk about feelings and what lies under the surface of the emotion. Look at the behaviors exhibited and do what you can to step in - if you need to.

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