Anorexia nervosa

Anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder characterized by voluntary starvation and exercise stress. Anorexia nervosa is a complex disease, involving psychological, sociological and physiological components. A person who is suffering from anorexia is referred to as 'anorexic' or (less commonly) 'anorectic'. "Anorectic" is the noun form, where "anorexic" is the adjectival form. These two are often used incorrectly when applied. The term is frequently but incorrectly shortened to anorexia, which simply refers to the medical symptom of lost appetite.

Indicators

Anorexic people may:

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• be too thin and/or appear to have lost weight;
• be secretive about their eating and try to not eat whilst being around others;
• eat in a ritualistic nature (This can encompass taking abnormally small bites, cutting food up into abnormally small pieces, being sullen during mealtimes, staring at their food whilst eating, holding cutlery in odd ways or at strange angles at times, or eating slowly, especially when putting food into the mouth.);
• look longingly at or pay abnormal attention towards food but not eat it;
• cook wonderful meals for others but avoid eating the food they've made themselves;
• say they're too fat when they are not;
• talk about food a lot;
• plan their meals up to days in advance;
• have dry skin and thinning hair;
• suffer from poor health and sunken eyes;
• have grown lanugo, a thin hair that grows all over their body as a natural physiological reaction to severe starvation that serves to keep the body warm in the absence of fat;
• possess an extensive knowledge about the food energy contents of the different types of food, and the energy-burning effects of each form of exercise;
• have fainting spells or otherwise pass out (an effect of starvation);
• have amenorrhea, the absence of menstruation.
• abuse laxatives

Currently the DSM-IV lists amenorrhea as a required characteristic of diagnosis, as it always accompanies anorexia nervosa in females. The eating disorders work group of the DSM is attempting to have the amenorrhea requirement removed as it makes diagnosis in males problematic.

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Anorexics are likely to be perfectionists. A 2003 study by Sutandar-Pinnock and others analyzed the correlation between high perfectionism scores as measured by the Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale (MPS), and anorexia nervosa as measured by the Eating Disorder Inventory (EDI). The control group participated in a family study, and was indirectly involved. The experimental groups were categorized as good outcome patients, who had regained weight after treatment; and poor outcomes, who did not regain weight after treatment. The mean scores for perfectionism in both good and poor outcome patients were higher than the control group, statistically significant. The perfectionism scores for the poor outcome were statistically significantly higher than the good outcome group in 4/5 categories.

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Although anorexics are less likely to choose fattening foods to eat, this is not always so. They may set their food-restriction objectives by food energy (calories) rather than by food type—for example, one may set a goal of 100 calories in a day and the food chosen to attain that number may very well be a cereal bar one day and an apple the next.

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