Am I Experiencing Anorexia?

Anorexia (anorexia nervosa) is a condition characterized by the restriction of energy (food) intake relative to requirements, leading to significantly lower body weight than would be expected. People with anorexia have an intense fear of gaining weight or becoming fat. They often feel a disturbance in the way they perceive their physical traits, and base their self-worth closely upon their weight or appearance. Anorexia nervosa is experienced by between 1 and 4 people out of every 100 (Keski-Rahkonenen & Mustelin, 2016).

The DSM-5 diagnostic criteria for anorexia nervosa include:

• A restricted of energy intake relative to requirements, leading to a significantly low body weight relative to the individual’s age, sex, developmental trajectory, and physical health.
• An intense fear of gaining weight or becoming fat, or persistent behavior that interferes with weight gain, even at a significantly low weight.
• A disturbance in the way one’s body weight or shape is experienced, undue influence of body

“Some people who report similar experiences to yours have a condition called anorexia. Would you like to try a short quiz that could give us an idea of whether this problem troubles you?”

• American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed.).
• Keski-Rahkonen, A., & Mustelin, L. (2016). Epidemiology of eating disorders in Europe: prevalence, incidence, comorbidity, course, consequences, and risk factors. Current Opinion in Psychiatry, 29, 340-345.
• Stansfeld, S., Clark, C., Bebbington, P., King, M., Jenkins, R., & Hinchliffe, S. (2016). Chapter 2: Common mental disorders. In S. McManus, P. Bebbington, R. Jenkins, & T. Brugha (Eds.), Mental health and wellbeing in England: Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey 2014. Leeds: NHS Digital.
• World Health Organization. (2019). ICD-11: International classification of diseases (11th revision). Retrieved from https://icd.who.int/