in anorexia nervosa, that's coupled with extreme weight loss, but in bulimia nervosa, one retains or maintains body weight within the normal range, and there is this pattern of overeating and vomiting. anything that i was feeling that i didn't want to feel or that i didn't know what it was, i could just shove back every time i threw up, because it numbs you. and it may be a half an hour numb or a five hour numb, but, for a little temporary bit, everything disappears, until after-- when it hits you. and then it just starts over. that's how the cycle begins. adolescent girls who develop anorexia nervosa often share similar personality traits. michael strober: not that everyone with these traits will develop anorexia nervosa. in fact, it's probably a very, very, very small minority of people who do. but they are traits such as extreme compliance, perfectionism, regimentation, the need for order and sameness and regularityf routines, a tendency towards apprehensiveness, self doubting, insecurity. anorexics tend to be more introverted-- in the sense of more internally worried and also mor