Thank you, I hope that you too avoid such experiences. I do agree that the prisoners were not identical in body shape - they had different calorific input-output histories, of course. I also agree that anorectics have as much (as little, if you prefer) control as the morbidly obese. My earlier concern, which I should perhaps have elaborated, is that it disempowers patients presenting with these problems to tell them that they have an illness, when the remedy rests in themselves. Many of my colleagues argue that this is another manifestation of the contemporary "victim culture". Telling people who are overweight that they are ill, and by implication that they are powerless, may appear "caring" but it does the patient no favours and is rarely clinically defensible (some would say it may be expedient for the hard-pressed clinician but abusive of the patient). The only time that such diagnoses are defensible is when the patient is mentally ill. I should close by saying that I had read the comments to which you refer - it is possible that people with whom you disagree may be at least as well-informed as you.