Symptoms Used to Diagnose Anorexia Nervosa
- Refusal to maintain or achieve 85% of the expected body weight for the person’s age and height (Often, this condition is met through losing weight, but adolescents who do not gain weight as they age can become underweight without weight loss.)
- Intense fear of gaining weight or becoming fat, even if the person is considered underweight
- Distortion of body image, excessive importance placed on body composition/shape, or denial of seriousness of low weight
- Amenorrhea -- the absence of at least three consecutive menstrual cycles (This condition is considered present if the person needs to take estrogen for her normal cycle to occur.)
Many individuals do not have all of these symptoms, but do have one or more of them. These people may meet the criteria for eating disorder not otherwise specified.
- Restricting Type:
People achieve or maintain their low body weight by vomiting, or using laxatives, diuretics, or enemas, instead of binge-eating or purging. - Binge-Eating/Purging Type: People regularly engage in binge-eating or purging. Self-induced vomiting is the most common method of purging, but many people use laxatives, diuretics, or enemas.
It may seem surprising that a person with anorexia nervosa can binge and purge. The key thing to remember is that this person insists on being underweight. If a person binges and purges and is willing to be at a normal weight, bulimia nervosa is the more likely diagnosis.
The Dangers of Stereotypes
It is wise to avoid putting too much stock in a definition or a diagnosis. Diagnoses are too often used as negative, stereotypical labels. If you recognize that the definition of anorexia nervosa applies to you, it is vitally important to get treatment.
Meeting the criteria does not guarantee that you will struggle with eating for the rest of your life. You may recover fully, while someone with symptoms that are considered less severe may have much more difficulty. Each person's struggle with eating is unique.
A diagnosis simply provides us with a shorthand way of talking about a particular kind of eating disturbance.
Source:
American Psychiatric Association. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th ed. (Washington, D.C.: American Psychiatric Association, 1994), 544-5.
