anorexia nervosa

Examples of anorexia nervosa in the following topics:

• Eating Disorders

  • Anorexia Nervosa (AN) is a serious psychiatric illness characterized by failure to maintain a minimally normal weight, intense fear of gaining weight or becoming fat, and preoccupations about body shape and weight .
  • Bulimia Nervosa (BN) is defined by the frequent episodic consumption of objectively large amounts of food and the use of compensatory behaviors to avoid weight gain.
  • Eating Disorders Not Otherwise Specified (EDNOS) is an eating disorder that does not meet the criteria for anorexia nervosa or bulimia nervosa, and includes binge eating disorder, night eating syndrome, and sub-threshold syndromes in which some, but not all, of the symptoms of the more formally defined eating disorders are present.
  • Eating disorders, such as anorexia nervosa shown in this picture, involve abnormal eating patterns which can affect both physical and mental health, including impairments in memory.
  • Differentiate between anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, binge eating disorder, and eating disorder not otherwise specified (EDNOS), examining their causes and consequences

• Eating Disorders

  • There are four types of eating disorders that are recognized in the DSM-5: anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, binge eating disorder, and eating disorder not otherwise specified (NOS).
  • Anorexia nervosa is characterized by extreme food restriction and excessive weight loss, accompanied by the fear of being fat.
  • Relative to the previous version of the DSM (DSM-IV-TR) the 2013 revision (DSM-5) reflects changes in the criteria for anorexia nervosa, most notably that of the amenorrhea criterion being removed.
  • Bulimia nervosa can be difficult to detect compared to anorexia nervosa, because people with bulimia tend to be of average or slightly above or below average weight.
  • The diagnosis is made only when the behavior is not a part of the symptom complex of anorexia nervosa and when the behavior reflects an overemphasis on physical mass or appearance.

• Feeding Disorders

  • This disturbance must not be due to unavailability of food; to observation of cultural norms; to anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, or another eating disorder; to perceived flaws in one's body shape or weight; or to another medical condition or mental disorder.
  • Other forms of eating disorders, such as anorexia nervosa or bulimia nervosa, involve a fear of gaining weight; while those who suffer from ARFID do not have this specific fear, the psychological symptoms and resulting anxiety are similar.

• The Biopsychosocial Model of Health and Illness

  • The impact of social factors is widely recognized in mental disorders like anorexia nervosa (a disorder characterized by excessive and purposeful weight loss despite evidence of low body weight).
  • For example, anorexia is less common in non-western cultures because they put less emphasis on thinness in women. 

• Defining "Normal" and "Abnormal"

  • For instance, referring to someone as "the anorexic girl" has a different impact than "the girl with anorexia."
  • In the first example, the individual is entirely defined by the disorder; in the second, anorexia is a characteristic, but not a defining one.

• Nutrition and Health

  • Existing or incipient psychological conditions (e.g. eating disorders like anorexia and bulimia) can cause nutritional deficiency and result in poor physical health.

• The Endocrine System and Hunger

  • This theory developed from the findings that bilateral lesions of the lateral hypothalamus can cause anorexia, a severely diminished appetite for food, while bilateral lesions on the ventromedial hypothalamus can cause overeating and obesity.

• Psychodynamic and Psychoanalytic Therapy

  • In 2013, the world's largest randomized controlled trial on therapy with anorexia outpatients, the ANTOP study, proved modified psychodynamic therapy to be more effective than cognitive behavioral therapy in the long term.

• Behavior Therapy and Applied Behavioral Analysis

  • Behavior therapy has proven effective in many areas and has been used to address intimacy in couples, relationships, forgiveness, chronic pain, anorexia, chronic distress, substance abuse, depression, anxiety, insomnia, and obesity.

• Other Approaches to Therapy

  • Of the treatments looked at in the study, family therapy was presumed or proven effective in the treatment of schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, anorexia, and alcohol dependency.