Anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder that involves
self-imposed starvation. The individual is obsessed
with becoming increasingly thinner and limits food
intake to the point where health is compromised. Anorexia
nervosa can be fatal.
Individuals with anorexia are on an irrational,
unrelenting quest to lose weight, and no matter how
much they lose and how much their health is compromised,
they want to lose more weight.
Recognizing the
development of anorexia can be difficult, especially in a
society that values and glamorizes thinness. Dieting is
often the trigger that starts a person down the road to
anorexia.
The future anorectic may begin by skipping
meals or taking only tiny portions. She (most anorectics
are female) always has an excuse for why she does not
want to eat, whether it is not feeling hungry, feeling ill,
having just eaten with someone else, or not liking the
food served.
She also begins to read food labels and
knows exactly how many calories and how much fat are
in everything she eats. Many anorectics practically
eliminate fat and sugar from their diets and seem to
live on diet soda and lettuce.
Some future anorectics
begin to exercise compulsively to burn extra calories.
Eventually these practices have serious health consequences.
At some point, the line between problem eating
and an eating disorder is crossed.
Anorexia nervosa is diagnosed when most of the
following conditions are present:
-an overriding obsession with food and thinness that
controls activities and eating patterns every hour of
every day
-the individual weighs less than 85% of the average
weight for his or her age and height group and willfully
and intentionally refuses to maintain an appropriate
body weight
-extreme fear of gaining weight or becoming fat, even
when the individual is significantly underweight.
-a distorted self-image that fuels a refusal to admit to
being underweight, even when this is demonstrably
true
-refusal to admit that being severely underweight is
dangerous to health
-for women, three missed menstrual periods in a row
after menstruation has been established
Anorectics spend a lot of time looking in the mirror,
obsessing about clothing size, and practicing negative
self-talk about their bodies. Some are secretive
about eating and will avoid eating in front of other
people.
They may develop strange eating habits such as
chewing their food and then spitting it out, or they may
have rigid ideas about ‘‘good’’ and ‘‘bad’’ food. Anorectics
will lie about their eating habits and their weight
to friends, family, and healthcare providers. Many
anorectics experience depression and anxiety disorders.
