Anorexia Nervosa

Definition: According to the DSM-IV, a person with Anorexia Nervosa must have the following symptoms: refusal to maintain body weight at or above a minimally normal weight for age and height; intense fear of gaining weight or becoming fat, even though underweight; disturbance in the way in which one's body weight or shape is experienced, undue influence of body weight or shape on self-evaluation, or denial of the seriousness of the current low body weight; and amenorrhea (in postmenarcheal females). Anorexia nervosa can be fatal because of the extreme stresses that it places on the body.