Reply #5: Definitely in the case in our family! Said person has OCD and

[coffeenap]

it manifests in an intense fear of body fat. Said person somehow got a message at around age 10 that body fat was bad. Instead of developing a healthy attitude about eating, it became an OCD issue. For years, any contact with any surface that may have contained a fragment of food would cause intense panic! It was very much like a germ phobia, only food related. The "logic" was that the diet was so specifically planned, that any interruption of the plan, even a fictional crumb, would "completely" destroy the person's whole life! So, the person almost starved and freaked out regularly. The person was constantly looking for signs of body fat. If found, person would break down and become dysfuntional. There is no perfectionism in his/her environment, no expectations for any particular life outcome; this is generated from a brain disorder. And let me tell you, it is really difficult--life-threatening.