Orthorexia was named in 1996 but has yet to be accepted as a formal diagnosis in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, the bible of psychiatric illnesses. Some therapists see it as an eating disorder, others as a manifestation of OCD. Some doctors think a separate diagnosis is unnecessary. There’s no estimate on how common it might be.

Whatever it’s called, therapists say, there are people whose rigid attention to what to eat, its nutritional content and how the food is grown and processed can put themselves in danger. A person might start “by getting rid of processed foods, then sugars and gluten, and little by little most things get taken out. They’ll take out meat. Only raw foods, only fruit. There are no real rules, but it usually gets down to a very small number of foods,” Quinlan said.

In addition, sufferers generally think there’s nothing wrong with their behavior.

Copeland, a Yale graduate, says she was sure that her “pure” diet would help her reach her potential, but she now sees that it left her enervated, isolated and unwilling to leave her house without bringing her own food.

“If I can fill my whole mind with food and the purity of the food and the green smoothies, then I can stay sober,” Copeland said in describing her thought process.