Anorexia Nervosa

Criteria for Diagnosing Anorexia Nervosa

Refusal or inability to maintain a normal body weight.

• Adults: less than 85 percent of ideal body weight or a body mass index (BMI) of 17.5 or lower
• Children: less than 85 percent of body weight expected for age and height or failure to gain weight during a growth period, leading to body weight less than 85 percent of that expected

 

• Intense fear of gaining weight or becoming fat
• Body image disturbance
• Denial of the seriousness of low weight
• At least three skipped menstrual periods in a row (for females who have begun menstruating)
  
  

Subtypes of Anorexia Nervosa

• Restricting: dietary restriction or exercise only
• Binge eating/purging: binge eating, self-induced vomiting, or misuse of diet pills, laxatives, or diuretics (water pills) during the current episode of low body weight