Anorexia Facts, Signs, and Symptoms
Anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder, classified as a mental illness, that affects one’s eating behaviors, thoughts, and emotions surrounding food and body image.
What comes to mind when you think of anorexia? A young woman, abnormally thin, pushing away food and refusing to eat?
This is a typical, widely held, and oversimplified image of anorexia - a stereotype. While this can be the case, most people suffer in silence due to misinformation and misconceptions.
In order to receive adequate care and encourage seeking help, it’s crucial to learn about anorexia, to know the facts, and to understand the signs and symptoms.
What Is Anorexia Nervosa?
According to the National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA), anorexia is an eating disorder generally associated with weight loss and a struggle to maintain one’s own biologically appropriate body weight.
Anorexia is often accompanied by a distorted body image and pairs with food restriction, either calorically or by avoiding certain types of food.
Other behaviors can potentially include compulsively exercising, purging through vomiting or laxatives, and binge eating.
What Is the DSM-5 Criteria for Anorexia?
The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) displays the following criteria for a diagnosis of anorexia.
Caloric restriction in reference to energy needs of the individual leading to a low body weight. Body weight is considered within the context of the individual’s age, sex, developmental trajectory, and physical health.
Extreme fear of weight gain or becoming fat. Continuous behaviors that aim to prevent weight gain.
Experiencing disturbed thoughts, feelings, and emotions in regard to one’s own body weight or shape. The individual's self-evaluation is inordinately influenced by body weight or shape. Serious concerns surrounding the current low body weight are met with denial.
Specified types (restricting type and binge eating/purging type) identify whether the individual has or has not regularly engaged in binge-eating or purging.
It’s important to note that even if no criteria is met, a severe eating disorder can still occur.
Atypical anorexia refers to individuals who are found to exemplify the criteria for anorexia, but are not underweight. The DSM-5 utilizes the body mass index (BMI), which is a faulty system.
The label of “atypical” is unhelpful because atypical anorexia is found to be more common than “typical” anorexia.
There’s no difference medically and psychologically between an atypical anorexia diagnosis and an anorexia diagnosis.
Due to weight stigma, those with atypical anorexia can find it more difficult to receive support and run the risk of going undiagnosed, as doctors might fail to notice behavioral symptoms.
Anorexia Facts and Statistics
Facts about anorexia give insight to the seriousness of this eating disorder.
The rate of anorexia has steadily increased within the last 50 years among females aged 15 to 24.
Males account for 25% of those with anorexia. Often a delayed diagnosis occurs in men due to gender bias and the common perception that only women experience anorexia.
Mortality in anorexia is to a large extent higher than any other psychiatric disorder.
56.2% of individuals with anorexia meet criteria for at least one anxiety disorder such as generalized anxiety or obsessive compulsive disorder.
Research finds that genetic factors make up approximately 40%-60% of the risk factors for anorexia.
Signs & Symptoms
Signs and symptoms can give warning that you or a loved one may be dealing with anorexia.
In most cases, these signs and symptoms don’t appear all at once, as each individual is unique.
Different people vary in the amount and degree of signs and symptoms. This list is not to be used as a checklist, but as a general summary to what may indicate anorexia.
Physical Signs & Symptoms
Anorexia is associated with self-starvation and as the body is deprived of necessary nutrients medical consequences can surface.
Weight loss
Menstrual irregularities
Gastrointestinal issues or complaints such as constipation, acid reflux, or stomach cramps
Dizziness, fainting
Trouble concentrating
Feeling cold a lot
Sleep issues
Dry skin, brittle nails, thinning hair
Fine hair covering body (lanugo)
Muscle weakness, aches, fatigue, lethargy
Poor immune functioning
Abnormal laboratory results (electrolyte levels, white blood count, etc.) *While it’s common for laboratory results to be normal, that doesn’t mean your body isn’t suffering
Irregular heartbeat, low blood pressure
Dehydration
Dental problems
Emotional and Behavioral Signs & Symptoms
Anxiety and worry regarding food and body image tend to combine with an attempt to control emotions and situations. Intense efforts to manage food and weight result in significant interference with daily life.
Preoccupation and obsession with weight, food, dieting, and caloric or nutrition information
Avoidance of specific foods
Restriction that progresses to elimination of whole categories of foods (no carbs, no fat, etc.)
Intense interest in “healthy” or “clean” eating (veganism, vegetarianism, etc.)
Continual remarks about feeling fat or overweight
Denial of hunger
Food rituals such as counting the number of chews, rearranging food on the plate, or eating foods in a certain order
Cooking meals for others, but avoiding eating
Excuses to stay away from mealtimes or circumstances including food
Talk of “burning off” calories
Excessive exercise; rigid and taken to extremes even when tired, ill, injured, or the weather doesn’t permit
Social withdrawal, change in normal activities, isolation
Concerns about eating in public, from a restaurant, or eating food cooked by someone else
Fear of weight gain
Wearing baggy clothing or layers to keep warm or hide weight loss
Anxiety, depression, lack of emotion
Negative or distorted body image, low self-esteem
Inflexible thinking (“black and white,” “good and bad”)
Anxious around meals
Becoming aware of the signs and symptoms can help with intervention and set you or your loved one on a path toward a successful recovery.
Who Is Mostly Affected by Anorexia?
While anorexia most commonly occurs among females, anorexia does not discriminate against gender, age, body type, race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic groups.
Stereotypes lead to individuals believing they don’t “look” like they have anorexia or they’re not “sick enough.”
Extreme weight loss, emaciation, or appearing underweight are stereotypes. Weight alone is NOT a fixed sign or determinant that someone is struggling.
In fact, those who don’t appear underweight are affected vastly in a negative way because of weight stigma, which frequently interferes with a proper diagnosis and treatment.
Sometimes weight loss can even be praised and encouraged by family, friends, or doctors, completely missing the real issue at hand and causing more harm.
Many times ingrained beliefs can hold you back. Getting out of the mindset that only certain people experience anorexia will significantly aid you or your loved one.
If food and body thoughts are causing a disruption in your life, you are “sick enough” and deserving of help!
Reach Out for Help with Healing, You’re Worth It
If you’re finding that food and weight is causing stress, therapy is an essential component to recovering from anorexia. Eating disorders affect every area of one’s life and attending to the mental health of the individual is key.
If you are in search of a therapist who specializes in eating disorders, disordered eating, and healing your relationship with your body, please feel free to visit my website or email me to see if working together might be a good fit for you. My office is based in Salado, Texas, and I can provide virtual therapy services across the state of Texas.
Good on therapy? Great! I also have a weekly newsletter called Sunday Soothies you might be interested in signing up for. If you ever get a case of the Sunday Scaries, cozy up with your inbox every Sunday morning and soothe your way into your week! Join the Soothie Crew here.
