Rachel Aviv was just six when she stopped eating and drinking. She is unable to recall why and her medical records paint an unclear picture, offering psychological assessments that might apply to almost anyone. Nevertheless, she found herself admitted to an anorexia unit, where she was denied contact with her family until she began eating again. After almost two weeks she managed breakfast, then lunch. Once her parents were allowed to visit “it was as if the spell had been broken”, she recounts.
Was she truly anorexic at such a young age? Now a staff writer at the New Yorker, Aviv has her doubts. Prior to being admitted to hospital, she had never encountered the word; to her child’s ears, it sounded like a species of dinosaur and yet seemed to hold such power, she was afraid to say it.
