Beauty is only skin deep

Daphne Halkias, a Greek-American psychologist who has worked in both countries, says the emphasis on being thin has led to a sudden rise in anorexia and bulimia over the past five years. She and other psychologists say the phenomenon is so new here that it is only beginning to be studied, and there are no discussions of the issue yet in the mainstream media.

Ms. Halkias sees distinct differences in the Greek trend toward eating disorders. While in America, the problem is generally confined to females in their teens and 20s, in Greece, she says, "It's not just in teenagers, but in women in their 30s and even in their 40s." These women are passing down a preoccupation with thinness to the next generation, she says. "It's not uncommon to see women putting their 4- and 5-year-old daughters on diets here."