What types of anorexia are there

  • Jul 26, 2021
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What types of anorexia are there

Anorexia is an eating disorder characterized by being underweight in relation to her age and sex, caloric restriction and dissatisfaction with her body image. People with anorexia have a distorted body image, they look fatter than they really are. The body mass index is often used to assess whether the weight is adequate or not. In addition, evaluations on eating patterns, physical exercise and certain personality traits are also used to make a good diagnosis.

In some cases, anorexia nervosa does not occur in isolation, but can be accompanied by depression, anxiety, and social isolation. In this Psychology-Online article we explain what types of anorexia exist and, also, we will talk about this disease that affects the youth of our society so much.

You may also like: Etiology of Anorexia and Bulimia Nervosa

Index

  1. Characteristics of anorexia nervosa and symptoms
  2. The 2 most common types of anorexia
  3. Atypical nervous anorexia
  4. Anorexia Prevention: Tips

Anorexia nervosa characteristics and symptoms.

There is three essential criteria that define the anorexia nervosa:

  1. Food intake restriction leading to significant weight loss considering age, gender, stage in development ...
  2. A intense fear of gaining weight or persistent behavior aimed at not gaining weight
  3. Image distortion corporal, excessive preoccupation by the weight and the figure.

Symptoms of anorexia nervosa

Some of the symptoms of this eating disorder are:

  • Food restriction
  • Significant weight loss or a weight well underweight
  • Obsession with calories
  • Performing "rituals" around food, such as eating alone, hiding food, or cutting food into small pieces
  • Fixation with food, recipes or cooking in general. The person can cook for others, but not eat anything
  • Amenorrhea: absence of menstruation
  • Depression
  • Lanugo: hair growth on the face and body
  • Feeling cold, especially in the extremities
  • Hair loss or thinning
  • Tendency to isolation avoiding social events, family or friends

In this other article we will discover what are the psychological symptoms of anorexia so you understand how they affect internally.

What Kinds of Anorexia Are There - Anorexia Nervosa Features and Symptoms

The 2 most common types of anorexia.

Mainly there are two subtypes of anorexia:

Restrictive type

It is characterized by a significant weight loss through a restrictive diet, fasting or excessive physical exercise, and great self-discipline, restricting the amount of food eaten, the calories and above all avoiding the intake of foods high in sugar or fat.

Fewer calories are consumed than are necessary to maintain an adequate weight, being a clear form of self-incineration.

Purgative type

It is characterized by a series of binges or purges. Most people with this type of anorexia binge eat and then engage in purgative behaviors such as self-induced vomiting and inappropriate use of laxatives, diuretics, or enemas.

There are some people within this subtype of anorexia who do not binge eat, but purge after eating small amounts of food. The objective of these behaviors is to alleviate the fear of gaining weight and the feeling of guilt about having eaten.

Atypical nervous anorexia.

Despite some of the stigmas assumed about anorexia (underweight), a person can present restrictive behaviors and characteristics of anorexia without meeting the criterion of being underweight recommended.

A person with atypical anorexia would present the same criteria as anorexia (mentioned above) except for weight loss, since they maintain a weight above or within the normal range taking into account their age, gender, etc. This makes it an atypical anorexia, presenting an excessive fear of gaining weight without any visible change in weight, and with related behaviors with food considered "abnormal", such as counting calories, eliminating certain meals of the day or avoiding social events that involve foods.

Many people with this disorder do not realize that they have a eating disorder serious for not meeting weight criteria. A person may think “I'm not sick enough to have an eating disorder” just because they weigh more than or equal to what is considered appropriate for their age. This prevents them from realizing their true situation and seek the help you need.

It is important to understand that weight is not a defining criterion for an eating disorder, despite popular beliefs.

What types of anorexia are there - Atypical nervous anorexia

Anorexia Prevention: Tips.

Educate the population about benefits of proper nutrition it is generally beneficial, but has not been found to be very effective in preventing eating disorders.

One of the most effective proposals has been education about the bias that occurs in the media towards thinness as something desirable: advertisements, images, etc. Helping people internalize proper body image and health behaviors, that is, that are inconsistent with behaviors typical of eating disorders.

This article is merely informative, in Psychology-Online we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.

If you want to read more articles similar to What types of anorexia are there, we recommend that you enter our category of Clinical psychology.

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