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Anorexia NervosaNote: If you are having an emergency or have thoughts of harming yourself or someone else, please pick up a phone and dial 911. Anorexia nervosa is a psychiatric diagnosis that describes an eating disorder characterized by low body weight and body image distortion with an obsessive fear of gaining weight. Individuals with anorexia often control body weight by voluntary starvation, purging, vomiting, excessive exercise, or other weight control measures, such as diet pills or diuretic drugs. It primarily affects adolescent females, however approximately 10% of people with the diagnosis are male. Anorexia nervosa is a complex condition, involving psychological, neurobiological, and sociological components.[1] The term anorexia is of Greek origin: an (privation or lack of) and orexis (appetite) thus meaning a lack of desire to eat.[2] A person who is diagnosed with anorexia nervosa is most commonly referred to with the adjectival form anorexic. The noun form, "anorectic" is generally not used in this context and usually refers to drugs that suppress appetite. "Anorexia nervosa" is frequently shortened to "anorexia" in both the popular media and scientific literature. This is technically incorrect, as the term "anorexia" used separately refers to the medical symptom of reduced appetite. 7401 Wiles Road, Suite #150, Coral Springs, FL 33067 |