Anorexia - When food rules your life

Anorexia, or Anorexia Nervosa, is an eating disorder that leads to a dangerous emaciation of the body. Those affected have a pathological desire to lose weight. The reduction — or absence — of food can lead to life-threatening malnutrition, which is associated with serious health problems. Young girls and women are those most often affected, but more and more men are also suffering from this disorder.

There is not one uniform cause of anorexia. Many factors play a role. Possible causes are:

1. Avoiding eating with other people
2. Fear of failure
3. Strong performance orientation
4. Disregard for body signals
5. Distorted body perception

Those affected often find excuses to avoid eating with other people. Common examples are: having a stomach ache, not being hungry or having already eaten. They withdraw more and more and keep the problem to themselves.

Sufferers are constantly accompanied by fears of failure. Be it privately, at school, at work – no matter what the situation. They strive for perfection.

Anorexics are performance-oriented. They have high expectations of their success at school and are often exceptionally talented. However, this can change in the later stages of the disorder.

Those affected lose the ability to respond to their body signals such as feelings of hunger, temperature stimuli or fatigue. The physical weaknesses are even “punished” by increasing their physical activity. Even after a physical breakdown sufferers lack this insight. They give their full attention to their own weight and everything around them is faded out.

Anorexics have a distorted perception of their body and misjudge it. This makes it so difficult for outsiders to put themselves in the position of the person concerned. Sufferers focus on certain areas of their body such as the hips, abdomen and thighs and perceive them as being too “fat“, “bulky“, “out of proportion” – this is especially true in phases when there is already a pronounced underweight.

• Women stop menstruating
• Increased body hair
• Fertility problems
• Often feeling cold
• Osteoporosis
• Hair Loss
• Dental damage

The risk of dying from this eating disorder is high due to the physical consequences. There is, however, a chance that those affected will be able to deal with their anorexia. Early detection of the disorder is particularly important in order to achieve the best possible success. To check whether the person concerned is underweight, you can use our BMI calculator. (Note: This can in no way replace a professional assessment by a doctor)

Are you affected yourself or do you know someone who suffers from anorexia? You are not alone! It is important that you seek professional help. Anorexia is often caused by mental disorders, which must be corrected as they can become chronic. This means, you may manage to return to normality for a certain period of time, but after symptom-free phases you often experience a setback. Breaking out of this vicious circle is not easy, but it is not hopeless either. The person affected must want to overcome the eating disorder.

The treatment for anorexia can be as complex as the cause. A team of psychotherapists, doctors and nutritionists (multidisciplinary team) is responsible for the treatment of an eating disorder. But what role does each of these health professionals play?

Psychotherapists

• Treatment of eating disorder symptoms such as starvation and other psychological complaints, e.g. self-esteem problems
• Researching the cause of eating disorders
• Cognitive behavioural therapy + psychotherapy based on depth psychology + family therapy interventions → most effectivene treatment

Doctors

• Malnutrition has physical consequences that require treatment
• Examples: regular weight control, checking laboratory values, heart and kidney function

Nutritional therapists

• Treatment of the acute symptoms of food restriction
• Imparting knowledge about sufficient meal structures, normal portion sizes
• Integration of prohibited food

The right therapy depends on the individual situation and symptoms. The following characteristics will give you an overview:

Anorexia is a complex problem and must be treated by a multidisciplinary team, otherwise the consequences can be serious. Early recognition of the disorder by doctors, friends, family is very important. The earlier the treatnent is begun, the greater the chance of improvement. Since the risk of death is high for this disease, in-patient therapy is often necessary for anorexic patients. Reaching normal weight and normalising eating behavior is often not possible in outpatient therapy.