Anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder in young, previously healthy women who develop a paralyzing fear of becoming fat. The population at risk consists largely of women from middle class backgrounds. A vast majority of the people, with the condition, are teenage girls between the age of 12 and 18.

Causes

Anorexia nervosa often develops after a weight reduction program. The huge importance placed on having a perfectly slim body in the western culture leads many people of normal, or near to normal size, to diet unnecessarily if they lack self confidence. Sometimes, stress and depression trigger the action.

Signs and symptoms

Almost everyone attempts to lose some weight from time to time, and teenagers are especially anxious to be slim. However normal dieting need to be distinguished from anorexia nervosa. Symptoms that appear early in this disorder are:

• Refusal to eat, particularly foods that is high in calories.
• Preoccupation with body weight and body size.
• A conviction that one is overweight.
• Use of appetite suppressants and laxative drugs.
• Exercising excessively.

Physical symptoms may appear gradually over weeks and become more obvious as the condition develops. These include:

• Extreme weight loss
• Muscle wasting
• Swollen ankles
• Fine body hair on trunk and limbs
• In women, the absence of menstrual periods.

If there is a continued refusal to eat, extreme weight loss leads to complications such as chemical imbalances in the blood, loss of bone density, chronic heart failure and eventually death.

Treatment

There is no specific treatment for anorexia nervosa. The intense fear of becoming fat and the perceptual disturbance that causes overestimation of body size result in powerful resistance to therapy. The benefits of psychiatric intervention, behavior modification techniques and group and family therapy are marginal. Supporting care by an understanding physician may accomplish as much as formal psychotherapy. The patient should be seen regularly for a review of weight change, diet and exercise patterns. If there are symptoms of depression, then anti depressants may be given.

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