A recent psychological study revealed a surprising truth about the powerful impact of media on women's self-esteem: 70% of women feel depressed after looking at a fashion magazine for three minutes (Women's Health, Taft College). The media's excessive use of photoshopped models brainwashes women into believing they must achieve impossible-to-achieve beauty standards that lower their self-esteem, and the desire to meet those standards can cause life-threatening mental disorders such as depression, anorexia nervosa. and bulimia nervosa. Thousands of women collect fashion magazines every day; these magazines are filled with images of slim women with smooth skin, symmetrical facial features, and hourglass figures. Models in magazines weigh 23% less than the average healthy woman (Women's Health, Taft College). Constant exposure to these photographs creates a new normal, and women often begin to believe they have to look like these role models. Most women don't live up to the standards set by the media and, as a result, feel upset and ashamed of their bodies, no matter how healthy they are. Low self-esteem afflicts millions of women and many of them are so affected that they sink into depression. Depression is an extremely serious mental illness that causes feelings of extreme sadness and drains all happiness from its victims. A recent study revealed that 11% of people experience depression before they turn eighteen (Depression in Children and Adolescents Fact Sheet, NIMH RSS). Since most fashion magazines are aimed at women, women are much more prone to depression than men. In severe cases, depression can lead to suicide. If t... half of paper... is not treated in time, bulimia nervosa can lead to kidney and esophageal problems that can be potentially fatal. Bulimia nervosa is yet another example of how once healthy women, surrounded by the media's use of anatomically impossible models, end up throwing their lives away in the name of beauty. The unrealistic expectations of women set by the media create a new normal that women think they must fulfill. These beauty standards are almost impossible to achieve, so very few women succeed. Despair fills those who don't achieve the supermodel physique and fall victim to mental illnesses, such as depression, anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa. If not properly treated in the early stages, these disorders can be fatal. If the media stopped using atypically thin models, they could save several thousand lives from premature deaths.