Eating disorders are a serious health problem. Nowadays, such disorders are very widespread and the number of people suffering from them is increasing every day. There are many main factors that can cause eating disorders; one of the main reasons seems to be the obsession with having a perfect body image that all celebrities, models and advertisers have. The media presents a great deal of beauty and thinness on television and magazines seen by many people. There are many possible factors that lead to this widely known health problem, such as social anxiety, shyness, and fear of negative appearance evaluation. In this research article, I intend to present social anxiety and negative evaluation of physical appearance as risk factors leading to eating disorders. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essayRodebaugh states that social anxiety arises from the gap between the motivation to present the desired social image and the expectation that the person will then fail to do so (126). Highly socially anxious individuals do not value their social performance abilities. They assume that their “interactions will be negative because of their failure to meet perfect standards” (Rodebaugh, 125). Moehn, in his book, Coping with Social Anxiety suggests that “Unfortunately, social anxiety is not easily diagnosed” (6). . “Distinguishing social anxiety from normal shyness is sometimes difficult” (Moehn 7). Shyness can cause distress just like social anxiety; it could affect your life and how you act. He also states that literally millions of people are affected by the realization that they have difficulty in social situations. For some, anxiety occurs during very specific events, such as giving a speech or eating in public. For others, social anxiety is part of everyday life (5). In cases where socially anxious people continue to self-monitor, they feel intrusive and unpleasant. Socially anxious individuals experience negative self-image. These images tend to be distorted and unrealistic representations of the self. However, "the negative self-images that phobic individuals create are perceived and processed as accurate. These images allocate cognitive resources and, consequently, prevent the creation of a socially supportive environment" (Moscovitch 183). Social anxiety can lead to bulimia symptoms and body dissatisfaction, which is the primary phase of eating disorders. Levinson states that experimental manipulations such as giving public speeches have consistently shown that individuals overeat or undereat in the presence of stress or fear activation (27). These individuals need a relevant audience to provide self-assessment. Under social threat, phobic individuals can create severe social anxiety that could develop into eating disorders. Socially anxious individuals usually have high levels of perfectionism. Perfectionism is not only an important risk factor for maintaining social anxiety; it is also a major risk factor for eating disorders. In other words, people who have high standards can suffer from eating disorders. According to Rodebaugh, perfectionism is connected to critical self-evaluation which can lead to anorexia and bulimia (126). Fear of negative evaluation can be associated with social fears. Social interaction anxiety which is a social fear includes the fear of making friends, attending parties, and starting conversations. “Fear of rejection due to poor performance or lack of.