What Is Anorexia Nervosa? Symptoms, Causes and Treatment Options

Anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder built on three things. Eating far too little, a strong fear of gaining weight, and a view of your own body that does not match what other people see.

It is a serious illness. It is not a diet, a phase, or a choice.

It also gets better with the right help, and it gets better faster the sooner that help starts. Below we cover the signs, the causes, and what treatment involves.

What Is Anorexia Nervosa?

Mayo Clinic sets out the three core features named above. All three have to be there.

There are two types. In one, food is limited. In the other, cutting back gives way to binge episodes, then to purging or other ways of making up for it.

Weight is not the whole picture. People of many different sizes meet the criteria.

That is worth saying twice. Care should never wait until someone looks ill enough to deserve it.

ANAD and other eating disorder groups say it carries one of the highest death rates of any mental illness. That is why nobody in this field tells a family to wait and see.

Symptoms

What people do changes first. How they look changes later, and sometimes not much at all.

Changes in behavior

• Strict rules about food, and a list of safe foods that keeps getting shorter
• Skipping meals with a reason ready in advance
• Rituals at the table, such as cutting food very small or moving it around
• Exercise that carries on through illness, injury, and exhaustion
• Pulling out of meals with other people, then out of social life

Changes in body and mood

• Feeling cold all the time, and dressing for a colder season than everyone else
• Tiredness, dizziness, and trouble holding attention
• Periods that become irregular or stop
• Low mood, short temper, and worry that spikes around food
• Real distress or anger when eating is raised at all

Our page on the signs and symptoms of eating disorders covers the wider group of conditions if you are not sure which one fits.

What Causes Anorexia Nervosa?

No single cause has ever been found. Blame is misplaced in every direction here.

Parents do not cause this. Neither do the people who have it.

SAMHSA describes eating disorders as coming from a mix of biology, mind, and setting. In practice several factors stack up.

• Family history of eating disorders or anxiety
• Perfectionism and a high need for control, often there long before any symptom
• Anxiety, obsessive traits, or trauma
• Puberty, or a big change such as leaving home
• Dieting, which is the most common starting point of all
• Sport, dance, or modeling, where weight gets watched and graded

Then hunger itself changes how a person thinks. Rigid rules, constant thoughts about food, and low mood are all effects of being underfed as well as causes.

That is why food comes early in treatment, not last. Our page on the causes of eating disorders goes into this further.

Treatment Options

This takes a team. One clinician working alone is rarely enough.

Medical safety first

If the body is not safe, that gets sorted before anything else. Eating again has to be paced and watched, because doing it too fast carries its own risks.

Getting food back in

Regular meals feed the body and the brain. Most of the talking work only lands once that has started, which is why it is not saved for later.

Therapy

For teenagers, family-based treatment has the strongest track record. For older teens and young adults, one-to-one work on control, perfectionism, and body image is more common. Both take months.

Treating what comes with it

Anxiety, low mood, and obsessive traits usually need attention too. Our eating disorder treatment page covers how that runs alongside the food work.

An eating disorder assessment sets the level of care. That choice matters more than which model of therapy gets picked.

What Recovery Looks Like

It is not a straight line. Setbacks are part of the normal course, not proof that it failed.

Full recovery happens, including for people who were very unwell. Two things shorten the road. Starting sooner, and having a team that talks to each other.

If you are worried about someone, say so plainly. Leave any comment about how they look out of it.

Then help them book an assessment. Support lines run by eating disorder groups can help you work out how to open that conversation.

Getting Help at Yellowbrick

Anorexia nervosa can be treated at any stage. Asking early costs you nothing.

Our Soma & Self eating disorder IOP works with emerging adults aged 16-30’s at Yellowbrick’s Evanston, Illinois practice. Call our admissions team at 847-869-1500 to arrange an assessment.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the symptoms of anorexia nervosa?

Behavior changes first. Strict food rules, skipped meals, rituals at the table, exercise that carries on through illness, and pulling out of meals with others. Physical signs follow, such as feeling cold, tired, and dizzy, and periods that stop. Distress when eating is raised is one of the clearest signs.

What causes anorexia nervosa?

There is no single cause. Family history, perfectionism, anxiety, trauma, big life changes, and dieting all play a part, and several usually stack up. Being underfed then changes how a person thinks, which makes the rules harder still. Nobody chooses it, and families do not cause it.

How is anorexia nervosa treated?

Treatment runs on several tracks at once. Medical safety comes first if the body is at risk, then regular eating, then therapy. Family-based treatment works best for teenagers, while young adults more often work one to one. Anxiety and low mood get treated alongside, not afterwards.

Is anorexia nervosa the deadliest mental illness?

Eating disorder groups including ANAD say it carries one of the highest death rates of any mental illness, from both medical causes and suicide. Rankings between conditions vary by study and by method. The practical point stays the same. This is not something to watch and hope it improves.