Anorexia is one of the two famous eating disorders. The other is called bulimic nervosa. The onset of these kinds of a skinny paradigm amongst how people look at the beautiful has surfaced these kinds of diseases. An anorexic is actually someone who has lacking or even no desire or intentions of eating. There are two medical standards in determining and diagnosing anorexia. First is the American Psychiatric Associations Diagnostic and Statistician Manual for Mental Disorders. This reveals that this kind of disease is actually psychologically related. In other words, it is psychosomatic or the disease finds its roots in psychological aspects and is manifested physiologically. The other standard is the WHO's International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems.
There are generally two types of this disease. First is the restricting type. This is where the patient hasn't done too much purging of what he/ she has already eaten. The restricting type patient did not regularly perform too much exercise, did not induce vomiting and did not misuse enemas, diuretics and laxatives. On the opposite end, there is the purging type. Anorexics under this category regularly engage in all of the aforementioned purging practices.
The fact that this disease is considered to be primarily physiological can be seen in the standard symptoms that clinical psychologists and psychiatrists refer to in diagnosing an anorexic patient. First thing to consider is that an anorexic refuses to stay within the safe and normal limit of weight that is determined by the patients age and height. This behavior is borne out of an unusually grave fear of becoming obese and even of gaining any weight. This is a simple mindset that is complicated by an almost maniacal aesthetic point of view characterized by overt skinniness. Yet, there are others who once experienced psychosocial trauma related to the concept and issue of weight gain. The third symptom is the patients inclusion of body shape and weight in personal evaluation. What's more is that the anorexic explicitly and even apologetically denies the gravity of his/ her very low weight. The fourth symptom is exclusive to premenopausal or post menarchal women. Patients with anorexia actually miss three consecutive menstruation periods. Finally, the anorexic may also experience other kinds of eating disorders.
There are also supplementary criteria in the diagnosis of anorexia. The means and ways of inducing loss of weight or maintaining a low body weight can determine an anorexic. This is characterized by avoiding all kind of fat, purging through self-induced vomiting, exercising too much and using drugs that suppress the appetite. Anorexia also has physiological symptoms. For the anorexic woman, she may experience a widespread endocrine disorder the stops her regular menstrual cycle. From men, they may lose potency and sexual drive. Other symptoms include abnormal secretion of insulin, changes in the thyroid hormone especially the peripheral metabolism, and increase of cortisol levels and of growth hormones. In sum, an anorexic have higher probabilities of getting the disease from trauma. Yet, there are also indications that the body also has a part to play in the problem.