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Anorexia nervosa

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

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Abstract

Type
100 words
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 2015 

Anorexia nervosa is a serious mental disorder, mainly affecting women. Levels of disability and mortality are high. It typically starts peri-pubertally, i.e. at a developmentally sensitive time. Many sufferers have anxious, perfectionist and obsessional traits. Self-starvation and extreme thinness become rewarding to sufferers, whereas food, eating and normal body size are feared. Early intervention is essential: psychological therapies and/or skilled refeeding in hospital (in severe cases) are the treatments of choice. With family-based treatment, 60–80% of adolescents with anorexia nervosa recover, whereas only 20–30% of adults who have a more enduring form of the illness recover with best available treatments.

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