Anorexia is the most lethal mental illness. Best-selling author Ignat Schmitt, with his usual smooth, witty and unconventional style, weaves data, research findings and explanations into a series of adventurous travel stories; these stories not only serve as the framework for his thinking but also allow him to compare different attitudes towards food, body, gender and fear in various countries.

A "problem book" that lies between a professional manual and a literary essay. Schmitt collected over 200 case interviews, family videos, and patients' hand-drawn "self-portrait + tree + home" projective tests, taking "problems" rather than "answers" as the main axis of his writing to form this book.

"Anorexia is the most lethal mental illness," the author writes in the first chapter. For him, questions are always more important than answers; and answers, right or wrong, always lead to new questions. When he works with teenage girls suffering from anorexia, all he sees are endless "whys", with few answers:

Why is this disease so lethal?
Why are almost all the patients girls?
Why are these girls all efficient, perfect, error-free and extremely self-disciplined?
Why do they pursue "perfection" at all costs?
Why do they see their bodies so differently from reality?
Why are they so full of fear?
Why do they always hide?
Why are their self-images so distorted?
Why does anorexia almost always come with symptoms of all other mental disorders?
Why are these girls often the best, the most diligent, the top students, but the most miserable?
Why are they never thin enough, beautiful enough, good enough, or worthy of love?
Why, behind the "unspeakable" trauma, are they actually deeply traumatized?
Why is the cure rate still so low?
Why is anorexia so complex?
Why do the trees drawn by different anorexic girls look so similar?
Why, why, why...

This is a book full of "whys". It has no unified answer, but conveys a message to every reader who opens it - regardless of gender: Take your destiny into your own hands.

Ignat Schmidt is a Slovenian clinical psychologist, psychotherapy trainer and best-selling author. He has been in private practice in the northeastern city of Ptuj for a long time and has taught at several continuing education institutions. He has published three Slovenian-language popular science books on psychology for both the general public and professionals. He is a Slovenian psychologist who closely combines clinical practice, popular science writing and public education. His published works mainly focus on emotional disorders and neurodiverse groups, providing accessible and practical resources for both the professional community and parents.