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Eating Disorders Online » Anorexia Nervosa
Anorexia Nervosa
Anorexia afflicts an estimated 0.5 to 3.7% of females.
Those with anorexia weigh at least 15% less than what is considered to be normal weight.
Most anorexics are young women. About 10% of all anorexics are male.
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"...Emotions control me... make me hide in a safe place of silence.... my mind stays distant from what my heart feels. If I say it... it's real... so I say nothing. I can't touch it... if I did I would curl up or crumble. I may seem to be made by heart of stone.... but really just chalk... and I'm afraid to face the possibility that I could easily turn to dust..." –Lori
Anorexia is among the psychiatric conditions with the highest mortality rate, with an estimated 6% of anorexia victims dying from complications of the disease. The most common causes of death in people with anorexia are medical complications of the condition including cardiac arrest and electrolyte imbalances. Recovery is possible, but requires a significant amount of effort.
Some people experience a fluctuating pattern of weight gain followed by a relapse, while others experience a progressively deteriorating course of the illness over many years and still others never fully recover.
As with many other addictions, it takes a day-to-day effort to control the urge to relapse. Many individuals will require ongoing anorexia treatment over several years, and some may require treatment over their entire lifetime. Among anorexics, 50 percent regain normal weight and eating habits, 25 percent improve but have pronounced weight and/or eating habit problems and 25 percent are resistant to intervention.
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More Information
Looking for Treatment? Call 1-877-211-5188 Anytime
If you or a loved one is suffering from an eating disorder and need help entering into recovery then please call 1-877-211-5188 anytime and we can help you with treatment and recovery options.
Find a Treatment Facility Near You
Click on a state below to find eating disorder treatment options that could be right for you.
The Eating Disorder Support Groups at SupportGroups.com is for individuals, friends and families who are looking to connect during life's challenging times. Share personal experiences, evaluate information and get support during times of need, illness, treatment or recovery.
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Getting anorexia support takes work. It means surrounding yourself with books, tool, people, and online resources who will be healthy, encouraging and supportive of your journey to wellness. It also requires effort to choose carefully whose words you allow into your head.
To be healthy and get anorexia support, you may need to stay away from those with eating disorders who are not working on recovery. This includes the online support groups, forums and blogs you frequent.
- “Recovery is a lifelong process. Does that sound depressing? It’s not. Because in my definition of recovery from eating disorders, depression or any addiction, it’s about learning how to LIVE. First learning how to live in peace and contentment…then learning how to live with meaning and joy. In all the work I’ve done coaching and researching this thing called happiness, I’ve found that there is no such thing as being “done.” We never get “there” when there means a perfect life where everything is completely done and there are no mountains left to climb. In fact, what I’ve found is that we are “done” when we’ve mastered the art of perspective.”
- Or this one: “So today's been pretty easy to stick to liquids only. I'm not limiting the amount of coffee or juice I can have, and I'm not counting calories. But looking back at my food journal, it's been FAR TOO LONG since I had a single day with NO SOLID FOOD.”
Which will provide you with what you need to be healthier – physically and emotionally?
It is possible to get recovery from anorexia support from professionals in a variety of ways. For example, some certified eating disorder specialists like Laurie Daily offer e-mail and telephone support. (lauriedaily.com). The Joy Project (joyproject.org) seeks to make treatment options more accessible to anyone affected and find and implement ways to make treatment more effective. The Joy Project seeks to empower individuals with eating disorders to be active participants in their own recovery. It has monitored and active message boards for those seeking recovery support.
Getting the support you need may take effort, but the stakes are too high to ignore this important task.
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More Information
Looking for Treatment? Call 1-877-211-5188 Anytime
If you or a loved one is suffering from an eating disorder and need help entering into recovery then please call 1-877-211-5188 anytime and we can help you with treatment and recovery options.
Find a Treatment Facility Near You
Click on a state below to find eating disorder treatment options that could be right for you.
The Eating Disorder Support Groups at SupportGroups.com is for individuals, friends and families who are looking to connect during life's challenging times. Share personal experiences, evaluate information and get support during times of need, illness, treatment or recovery.
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An anorexia diagnosis is not always easy to achieve, often because people struggling with eating disorders are secretive and embarrassed about their behaviors. They may also minimize any effects of their behavior. A diagnosis can be made by a physician, but is usually made by a mental health professional, who must often interview friends and family.
The most commonly used criteria for anorexia diagnosis are from the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statiscal Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV-TR) and the World Health Organization’s International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD).
To be diagnosed a person must display:
- Refusal to maintain body weight at their minimal normal weight for age and height or failure to gain weight during a certain amount of time.
- Intense fear of gaining weight or becoming obese.
- Disturbance in the way in which their body’s weight or shape is experienced, undue influence of body weight or shape on self-evaluation, or denial of their low body weight.
- In post-menarcheal, pre-menopausal females (women who have had their first menstrual period but have not yet gone through menopause), amenorrhea (the absence of at least three consecutive menstrual cycles).
- Or other eating related disorders, such as bulimia.
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More Information
Looking for Treatment? Call 1-877-211-5188 Anytime
If you or a loved one is suffering from an eating disorder and need help entering into recovery then please call 1-877-211-5188 anytime and we can help you with treatment and recovery options.
Find a Treatment Facility Near You
Click on a state below to find eating disorder treatment options that could be right for you.
The Eating Disorder Support Groups at SupportGroups.com is for individuals, friends and families who are looking to connect during life's challenging times. Share personal experiences, evaluate information and get support during times of need, illness, treatment or recovery.
Dive Deeper
"... lost in the darkness of my own circumstance, criticizing echoes leaving me awake in the night... the barrier and blockades that keep me safe and in control while I pretend that I am okay... " – Lani, in her journal
Anorexia treatment calls for a specific program that involves three main phases:
- Restoring weight lost to severe dieting and purging;
- Treating psychological disturbances such as distortion of body image, low self-esteem, and interpersonal conflicts; and
- achieving long-term remission and rehabilitation, or full recovery
The overall anorexia treatment must focus on more than weight gain. There are a variety of treatment approaches dependent upon the resources available to the individual.
Treatment may consist of any combination of the following:
Most individuals initially seek outpatient treatment involving psychological as well as medical intervention.
Unfortunately, access to treatment may be restricted by financial means and/or insurance limitations. Because of increasing insurance restrictions, many patients find that a short hospitalization followed by a day treatment program (either partial hospitalization, or intensive outpatient program) is an effective alternative to longer inpatient programs.
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The Eating Disorder Support Groups at SupportGroups.com is for individuals, friends and families who are looking to connect during life's challenging times. Share personal experiences, evaluate information and get support during times of need, illness, treatment or recovery.
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The information provided on EatingDisordersOnline.com is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between a patient/site visitor and his/her health professional. This information is solely for informational and educational purposes and we encourage all visitors to see a licensed physician if they believe that they have an eating disorder. The publication of this information does not constitute the practice of medicine, and this information does not replace the advice of your physician or other health care provider. Neither the owners or employees of EatingDisordersOnline.com nor the author(s) of site content take responsibility for any possible consequences from any treatment, procedure, exercise, dietary modification, action or application of medication which results from reading this site. Always speak with your primary health care provider before engaging in any form of self treatment. Please see our Legal Statement for further information.
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 The Eating Disorder Support Groups at SupportGroups.com is for individuals, friends and families who are looking to connect during life's challenging times. Share personal experiences, evaluate information and get support during times of need, illness, treatment or recovery.
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Did You Know?
Bulimia nervosa may accompany anorexia, or it may occur by itself. It is estimated to occur in 1.1 to 4.2% of females. Bulimia nervosa can lead to severe tooth decay, intestinal and kidney problems, muscle cramps, heart problems, ruptured stomach or esophagus, and death.
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