Are teens that are shy or hesitant about eating in public on the path to developing a full-blown eating disorder? Some experts say it's a possibility. Others say that, even if a teen doesn't develop a diagnosable eating disorder, serious health problems like malnutrition can still occur.

"Bernarod Carducci, director of Indiana University Southeast's Shyness Research Institute, calls it the Scarlett O'Hara syndrome. In a famous scene in Gone with the Wind, Scarlett's maid tells her not to eat at a barbeque if she wants to uphold her reputation."

James Mitchell, president of the Neuropsychiatric Research Institute in Fargo, N.D. feels that current national concerns about obesity cause this non-specified eating disorder to go unnoticed. Leslie Lipton, who once struggled with eating in public, cautions that girls need to seek treatment early.

Read more at USAToday.com.

Labels: awareness, prevention, shyness