What is Anorexia Nervosa?

The main characteristic of Anorexia Nervosa is the person's reject to maintain a normal body weight according to her/his age and height. There is also a strong wish to have and maintain a very low weight, no matter the physiological consequences this can carry on.

This persons, generally achieve the loosing weight by reducing the amount of food they eat. They also use other "strategies" such as purging after meals (by vomiting, taking laxatives or diuretics) and doing excessive physical exercise.

An evident consequence of this state of malnutrition is the absence of the menstruation in postpuberal women, and a generalized weakness in men. The physiological consequences that appear at the beginning of the body weight are lank and weak hair, dry and dehydrated skin, brittle fingernails, a constant sensation of cold, swelling in different body parts, constipation, hypotension, etc. When anorexia starts before puberty, grow stops or slows down. If the inanition continues, this condition could lead to the person's death.

Even having a very low weight, the person keeps showing a very intense fear to get fat. In a considerable number of cases, this fear is produced by the alteration of Body Image, that is, these persons "see" themselves, or in any case, "feel themselves" fat (without being objectively fat). Furthermore, if they do not feel satisfied with their body the way it is, they fear that the dissatisfaction would increase if they gain weight. The fact of giving this exaggerated importance to their body, these persons' activities depend on what they should or should not eat, on how much exercise they should do to compensate the food intake, on what clothes they can or cannot wear, on which places they can o cannot go, etc. All this produces a great interference in different areas of their lives, and they get trapped by their problem.

Their mood, self-esteem, involvement in school or work, relationships, leisure, etc. depend on the way they feel and they end up isolating and withdrawing, losing interest in things that used to please them or, on the contrary, performing all their tasks and activities (studies, work, sport, etc.) excessively. Their mood suffers important alterations and hey become depressive, irritated, angry, and anxious.

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It might be that while reading this site you identify yourself with the descriptions of the problem provided above. The following questions inquire about the presence of some of its features. Although they do not substitute the assessment process necessary to establish a clinical diagnosis, they might be considered as a first approach and a preliminary screening of the problem:

If you also experience a significant distress, or any area of your daily life (leisure, work, school, family, etc.) has been affected by this problem, you might be suffering from anorexia nervosa. However, remember: this is just a first approach to the assessment process needed before starting any treatment. If you think you might have this problem, seek professional advice so you can decide whether you want or not to receive treatment.