Facts About Eating Disorders
Anorexia
Nervosa
An estimated
0.5 to 3.7 percent of females suffer from anorexia
nervosa in their lifetime. Symptoms of anorexia nervosa
include:
- Resistance
to maintaining body weight at or above a minimally normal
weight for age and height
- Intense
fear of gaining weight or becoming fat, even though underweight
- Disturbance
in the way in which one's body weight or shape is experienced,
undue influence of body weight or shape on self-evaluation,
or denial of the seriousness of the current low body weight
- Infrequent
or absent menstrual periods (in females who have reached
puberty)
People
with this disorder see themselves as overweight even though
they are dangerously thin. The process of eating becomes an
obsession. Unusual eating habits develop, such as avoiding
food and meals, picking out a few foods and eating these in
small quantities, or carefully weighing and portioning food.
People with anorexia may repeatedly check
their body weight, and many engage in other techniques to
control their weight, such as intense and compulsive exercise,
or purging by means of vomiting and abuse of laxatives, enemas,
and diuretics. Girls with anorexia often
experience a delayed onset of their first menstrual period.
The course
and outcome of anorexia nervosa vary across
individuals: some fully recover after a single episode; some
have a fluctuating pattern of weight gain and relapse; and
others experience a chronically deteriorating course of illness
over many years. The mortality rate among people with anorexia
has been estimated at 0.56 percent per year, or approximately
5.6 percent per decade, which is about 12 times higher than
the annual death rate due to all causes of death among females
ages 15-24 in the general population. The most common causes
of death are complications of the disorder, such as cardiac
arrest or electrolyte imbalance, and suicide.
| Eating
Disorders | Anorexia
Nervosa | Bulimia
Nervosa |
| Binge-Eating
Disorder | Treatment
Strategies |
source:
nimh.nih.gov
|
