What Are the Symptoms of Anorexia Nervosa?

Anorexia nervosa is a psychological disorder characterized by an intense fear of gaining weight, depressed mood, and excessive or complete refusal to eat—leading to significant weight loss, malnutrition, and an inability or unwillingness to maintain even a minimally healthy body weight.

In the early stages, individuals with anorexia nervosa do not necessarily experience severely diminished appetite; in fact, they may sometimes feel hungry and even have a good appetite. However, when it comes time to eat, they often feel unable to consume food—even small amounts may induce early satiety, abdominal distension, and discomfort. Some patients report aversion to food upon seeing it, even when experiencing hunger. Nevertheless, to obtain essential energy, they may force themselves to eat minimal quantities.

In the early phase of anorexia nervosa, individuals may lose interest in foods they previously enjoyed and experience markedly reduced appetite. Even when forcing themselves to eat, they may vomit—a highly unhealthy physiological response. Prolonged persistence of such behaviors inflicts severe damage on the body. As the condition progresses, patients may develop edema due to weight loss, experience marked depletion of body fat, feel chronically cold (especially in the extremities), and suffer from gastric coldness. Hormonal imbalances may ensue, resulting in hair thinning, reduced body hair, impaired cardiac function, bradycardia (abnormally slow heart rate), hypotension (low blood pressure), prolonged cardiac conduction times, syncope (fainting), and, in extreme cases, life-threatening complications.