Anorexia Nervosa

Individuals believe they are fat even when they are dangerously thin and restrict their eating to the point of starvation. The meaning of this notion was already known in the ancient times, that is, orexis ═ appetite, an-orexis ═ loosing appetite. The word nervosa refers to the psychic disorder. Public language often mentions it as anorexia. Naturally it is unacceptable as anorexia itself means loosing appetite (Túry, 2005).

Anorexia nervosa has been a well-known disease for medical professionals since 1873s and it was identified and described then. The identified symptoms were gastric disease, digestive disorders and certain hormone disorders. After several decades of clinical experiences psychic and mental factors were involved in the diagnosis of anorexia. Finally this disease has been dealt with its complexity since 1980 (Túry, 2005).

In Hungary the first case was first described by Iványi and Kovács in 1955 (Túry, 20005). The characteristic features of Anorexia Nervosa have been known for centuries. It is estimated that primarily 12 and 21 year old girls and females are endangered (Túry and Szabó, 2000). Pressures to achieve cultural ideals of beauty are placed on females. They are afraid of both obesity and also loosing control (Aaron T.B. and et al, 1999).

Anorexia nervosa is the typical model of fasting and over-controlling one’s diet and life. The paradox of controlling the body is to substitute real life problems with this abnormal behaviour. Among the reasons are being exposed to parents’ control and trying to get rid of it, and when self-fasting means the victory over the psyche and mind. Actually these patients are not able to control their biological processes. The third paradox is beauty, myth and patients’ protest against it. Soon they develop a distorted idea of how their body should appear to others. They want to loose weight in order to become slim and it results in self-fasting (Dévald, 1993).