Anorexia Nervosa
What is Anorexia Nervosa?
Anorexia Nervosa is an eating disorder in which there is a severe and prolonged inability to eat, with marked weight loss.
What are the Symptoms of Anorexia Nervosa?
Symptoms of Anorexia always include refusal to maintain a body weight over a minimum normal weight for a person's age and height; intense fear of gaining weight or getting fat; disturbance in the way a person experiences his or her body weight, size or shape; and in women, missing at least three menstrual periods in a row. Other symptoms may include restricting food or liquids; binge-eating; self-induced vomiting; exercising too much; laxative, Ipecac, water pill, diet pill, or enema abuse; loss of appetite; and physical changes such as low body temperature, heart rate, or blood pressure; swelling; soft, fuzzy body hair; constipation and intolerance of cold. Some of these physical changes can be life threatening. Social withdrawal and severe preoccupation with food and eating are usually present.
What Causes Anorexia?
The exact cause of Anorexia is unknown, but many psychological, social, cultural and biochemical theories are being looked at.
What Happens to People who have Anorexia?
Anorexia usually begins during the teen years, and rarely after the age of 40. It is far more common in females than in males. The course of illness is variable: some Anorexics recover after a single episode, but more often there are many episodes or a lifelong course with many ups and downs. In some people, the illness becomes worse and worse until death results from malnutrition or heart problems.
What is the Treatment for Anorexia?
Treatment of Anorexia usually involves individual, group and/or family psychotherapy, and nutritional counseling. Depending on the degree of weight loss and the state of physical health when the person enters treatment, there will be greater or lesser control of the person's eating and of the total environment. When severely ill, medical or psychiatric hospitalization is needed and all eating and elimination (urinating, bowel movements and vomiting) are carefully observed at all times. As symptoms are brought under control and weight increases and becomes stable, control is gradually and slowly returned to the patient. At all levels of care, the treatment involves high levels of structure and a behavioral treatment plan based on the patient's weight. Long-term follow-up of the patient's psychiatric and physical health is essential.
What Can I do to Help Get my Anorexia in Control?
To make the fullest possible recovery, a person with Anorexia must:
- Participate actively in the treatment plan.
- Complete the full inpatient program if required.
- Maintain weight within a strict 5-pound range of the assigned target weight.
- Function independently in activities of daily living.
- Attend therapy regularly.
- Make all medical follow-up visits.
- Learn and use healthy coping skills.
- Ask for help when needed.
- Be honest with the therapist, other health care providers, and with yourself.
What Happens if the Symptoms Return After I get them in Control?
When signs of relapse appear, the patient should always contact the medical doctor and therapist right away. Signs of relapse may include weighing 5 pounds or more below target weight; an increase in any addictive behavior (food-related behaviors, exercise, drugs, or alcohol); a decrease in appetite or ability to eat; a return of purging, laxative, water pill, diet pill or enema use; or a marked increase or decrease in sleep.
Where can I get More Information about Anorexia?
There are several good books about anorexia and its treatment:
Hilde Bruch
The Golden Cage. Random House, 1979.
Hilde Bruch
Eating Disorders--Obesity, Anorexia Nervosa, and the Person Within. Basic Books, 1985.
Hilde Bruch
Conversations with Anorexics. Basic Books, 1995.
Joan Jacobs Brumberg
Fasting Girls. Harvard University Press, 1989.
Christopher G. Fairburn
Overcoming Binge Eating. Guilford, 1995.
Jack Gorman
Essential Guide to Psychiatric Drugs. St. Martin's Press, 1998.
Harriet Goldhor Lerner
The Dance of Anger. Harper and Row, 1997.
Harriet Goldhor Lerner
The Dance of Intimacy. Harper and Row, 1991.
Craig Nakken
