Eating disorder that produces weight loss, accompanied by an aversion to food and gaining weight, causing weight loss below healthy levels. Generally it starts in adolescence or early adult life and is more prevalent in women.
The main causes are unknown, but some risk factors are noticeable, such as a cult of the body, negative self-image, childhood anxiety disorder, thinness-focused social mores and perfectionist tendencies.
Main symptoms are loss of weight, fear and avoidance of food and social situations around it, as well as alterations in skin and mucous membranes, confused thought, extreme sensitivity to cold and loss of fat and muscle mass.
Most people who suffer this disorder do not acknowledge having an eating disorder and so they do not visit and refuse to be visited by a specialist. In milder cases, behavioral treatment is enough, but severe cases may require hospital admission for stabilization and nutritional support.
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