Irish women suffer ‘Desperate Housewives Syndrome’ - staying skinny to keep up with Hollywood

Women aspire to maintain figures of Hollywood celebrities

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"Desperate Housewives Syndrom" - are Irish women trying to keep up with unattainable Hollywood images?

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Irish women are developing a condition dubbed ‘Desperate Housewives syndrome’, where females develop eating disorders during their middle age.

According to the Irish Examiner, Irish women in their forties are dieting to keep as slim as Hollywood stars such as Jennifer Aniston, Eva Longoria, Julia Roberts, and J-Lo.

"It's about looking at a celebrity or model and seeing a way of life and thinking you have to look that way to get the man, the car and their life," Suzanne Horgan, Director of the Eating Disorder Resource Centre of Ireland, told the newspaper.

"People are caught up with them because there seems to be a pressure to stay slim and young-looking in your 40s."

Horgan says the Desperate Housewives syndrome is a growing trend in Ireland due to the pressure women feel to look like "something off the show".

"Marcia Cross even came out during the filming of the show and said she was always starving because she couldn’t eat because she had to be thin,” Horgan noted.

"There are also people like Madonna, who is very iconic, looking so young. People are caught up with them because there seems to be a pressure to stay slim and young-looking in your 40s.

Health specialists say middle-aged patients tend to suffer from low self-worth and anxiety.

"I think more women are becoming dissatisfied with how they look and rather than grow old with wisdom and grace, they are struggling with their body image in their 40s," Horgan said.

"Before it was mainly people from the age of 12 to 18 developing disorders like bulimia, but now it has gone to all ages," Horgan added.

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