What is Anorexia?

By definition, anorexia means “loss of appetite,” but this is a misnomer. In reality, individuals with anorexia nervosa control their desire to eat by ignoring the signs of hunger. A person diagnosed with anorexia nervosa suffers from:

• A substantial, self-induced starvation.
• A refusal to maintain his/her body weight at or above a minimally normal weight for age and height (weight loss leading to a body weight less than 85 % of that expected, or failure to make expected weight gain during a period of growth, leading to body weight less than 85 % of that expected).
• An intense fear of gaining weight or becoming fat that usually isn’t alleviated by weight loss.
• The relentless pursuit of becoming thin, even though he/she is underweight.
• A distorted perception of the shape and size of his/her body.
• Denial of the seriousness of his/her current low body weight.
• For females, an abnormality of reproductive hormone activity due to the weight lost, but also possibly as a result of independent hypothalamic abnormality. In postmenarcheal (onset of menstruation) females, this means amenorrhea (the absence of at least three consecutive menstrual cycles due to abnormally low levels of estrogen secretion).

Who Suffers from Anorexia Nervosa?

While the vast majority of clients in our out-patient eating disorders treatment program are adolescent girls and young adult women, anorexia can also develop in older females and males of all ages. This eating disorder generally begins in the crucial teen and young adult identity-forming years when societal pressures to be “thin and perfect” are at their greatest. HCA offers anorexia treatment for both female and male clients.