Anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder in which a normal weight person diets and becomes significantly underweight. Yet they still feel fat, and continue to starve themselves. The term "anorexia nervosa" literally means nervous lose of appetite. Anorexia is characterized by extreme starvation that leads to a disastrous loss of weight. Anorexia affects a large n umber of people today. Its primary victims are young girls between the age of thirteen and nineteen. Anorexia is defined as an emotional disorder characterized by an intense fear of becoming obese, lack of self esteem and distorted body image which results in self-induced starvation.
The anorexic person often becomes frightened of gaining weight and even of food itself. The person may feel fat even though their body is well below the normal weight for their height. The fear of anorexics becomes so difficult to manage that the sufferer will gradually isolate him/herself from other people and social activities. While the cause of anorexia is still unknown, a combination of psychological, environmental, and physiological factors is associated with the development of this disorder. The most common cause of anorexia in a girl is perception of her weight. Anorexics feel as if they are heavier than the others around them, and believe the fastest way to lose weight is to simply starve themselves. Another cause of anorexia is the need to obtain perfection. .
Then they desire excellence in all aspects of their life. Then when they look at themselves and don't see perfection they "punish" themselves by restriction or starvation. People who fall towards anorexia often feel they have a lack of control in their lives and the only thing they can control is what they eat. They have control over their body and eat exactly what they want or nothing at all. .
Deep emotional conflicts can also contribute to the disease. The effects of anorexia are severe and can be dramatic weight loss, headaches, dry skin, hair loss, and kidney infections.
