What is a anorexia nervosa?

Anorexia Nervosa (anorexia, for short) is an eating disorder characterized by the inability or unwillingness to eat. Those who suffer from anorexia (anorexics) feel that they are too fat and must starve themselves as a sort of extreme diet to lose weight.

Often, this means a refusal to eat or a strict limitation of what a person will eat, along with intense or extensive physical exercise to burn off the calories that have been consumed when forced to eat. They also may incorporate bulimia and over-use of laxatives to eliminate perceived sources of obesity, while adult weights can plummet to seventy pounds and less.

It is a dangerous disorder that can cause serious complications both mentally and physically. In severe cases, anorexia can be fatal due to organ damage from the starving body attempting to reabsorb protein from internal organs, including the heart, which often leads to heart attacks and irreversible heart and organ damage.

It is believed by many who treat and study the disorder, to be caused by an altered body image and a pathological need to control things that seem out of control, manifesting in various symptoms, including refusal to eat although hungry, as a mechanism of control. But it is still not a well understood disorder.