Although approximately half of all sufferers of eating disorders eventually achieve recovery, reliable treatment for these disorders has proven elusive. One significant obstacle to treating anorexia is that anorexics often deny that they have a problem. As the writers for Well-Connected explain, the anorexic patient “believes that the emaciation is normal and even attractive. . . . Even worse, the anorexic condition may be encouraged by friends who envy thinness.”

Because anorexics suffer from an overwhelming fear of gaining weight and therefore simply refuse to eat, many do not recover. This creates the difficult dilemma of whether or not it is ever appropriate for doctors to force-feed an unwilling anorexic. Janice Russell, senior lecturer in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Sydney, arguing in favor of protecting anorexics’ lives at all costs, states that “most [doctors] can recall...