Anorexia Nervosa

This section includes the following information about Anorexia nervosa;

What is anorexia Nervosa?

Anorexia nervosa is one type of many different eating disorders; it is usually termed ‘Anorexia’ for short. The eating disorder is characterized by the individual’s intense fear of weight gain and their refusal to maintain a normal body weight. The weight of an anorexic individual is around 15 % or lower below than what is expected for their height.

It is important to remember that fear of weight gain; weight loss and restrictive food intake are only some symptoms of anorexia. These elements do not make up the disorder itself. It is a psychological disturbance that goes a lot deeper. As talked about in the causes of eating disorders section, this eating disorder is a control mechanism.

If they can not control the world outside, emotions implode and the individual turns to controlling the world inside. This a progressive disorder that manifests itself over time if not treated. The person suffering begins to loose weight by making changes to their diet, they then start to become obsessed and begin to take in less and less food in order to lose weight, they often begin exercising to speed up the process of weight loss.

An ongoing cycle of calorie counting, exercising, compulsively weighing themselves and being completely preoccupied with their size and weight is entered.

Often anorexics do not see how thin they really are and take on part of ‘body dimorphic disorder’ (basically where an individual can not see what is really there), they may be scarily thin but in the mirror they can still see imperfections and even call themselves ‘fat’.

The word Anorexia originates from the Greek word anorexis, An -meaning ‘without’ and orexis - meaning ‘appetite’. However this is an inaccurate term/meaning for the eating disorder itself. The appetite of anorexics may appear reduced however is hidden by strict diets, they usually desire food and feel hunger but are so scared of weight gain that they force themselves to ignore their appetite.

People with anorexia avoid fatty foods and skip meals. Their caloric intake is usually less than half of what their body requires in terms of daily energy expenditure. This is the reason for weight loss as the body is forced to utilize fat stores.

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