Anorexia Treatment Center
What Is Anorexia Nervosa?
Anorexia is a serious, potentially life-threatening eating disorder characterized by significant weight loss, difficulty maintaining an appropriate weight based on height, age, and body type, and often dissatisfaction and/or distorted view of one’s own body. Anorexia nervosa symptoms can be severe and lead to serious physical complications, in some cases deadly. Without comprehensive treatment, between 5-20% of individuals with anorexia will die. With eating disorder treatment, this number decreases to 2-3%. While anorexia frequently begins in adolescence, more and more children and older adults are experiencing symptoms and are being diagnosed. Anorexia can affect people of all genders, sexual orientations, ethnicities, and socio-economic backgrounds.
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Anorexia Symptoms and Warning Signs
- Difficulty or inability maintaining body weight at or above a minimally normal weight for age and height
- Intense fear of weight gain, even though underweight
- Disturbance in the experience of body weight or shape, undue influence of weight or shape on self-evaluation, or denial of the seriousness of low body weight
- Loss of menstrual periods (when applicable)
- Dramatic weight loss
- Preoccupation with weight, food, calories, body, and/or exercise
- Refusal to eat certain foods, progressing to restriction of whole food categories
- Denial of hunger and/or inability to reliably read hunger and fullness cues
- Development of food rituals and rules
- Feeling guilty after eating
- Excessive and/or rigid exercise regimen despite weather, fatigue, illness, or injury
- Delaying eating and/or skipping meals
- Withdrawal from usual friends and activities
- Avoidance of social or public eating, as well as, situations involving food
- Feeling cold regardless of temperature or clothing
- Dizziness
- Low Energy
- Difficulty concentrating
- Hair loss
Due to the severity of anorexia symptoms and the possibility of anorexia complications, experts have found that prompt and intensive multidisciplinary treatment significantly improves the chances of recovery. Therefore, it’s vital to be aware of the warning signs and seek help at an eating disorder treatment center like Shoreline to address the psychological, dietary, and medical components of the disorder.
Overview of Anorexia Nervosa
Odyssey Behavioral Healthcare’s AVP of Clinical Services, Kate Fisch, LCSW, discusses anorexia and how Shoreline approaches treatment.
Health Consequences of Anorexia Nervosa
Due to the characteristics of anorexia, including restricted food intake, the body is denied the essential nutrients it needs to function optimally. Thus, the body is forced to slow down all its processes to conserve energy, resulting in serious medical consequences. Some health risks associated with anorexia nervosa health risks include:
- Abnormally slow heart rate and low blood pressure, indicating that the heart muscle is changing – the risk for heart failure rises as the heart rate and blood pressure levels sink lower and lower
- Reduction of bone density (osteoporosis), which results in dry, brittle bones
- Muscle loss and weakness
- Severe dehydration, which can result in kidney failure
- Fainting, fatigue, and overall weakness
- Dry hair and skin; hair loss is common
- Fine hair growth – a downy layer of hair called lanugo all over the body, including the face, to keep the body warm
The Importance of Anorexia Treatment
Our experienced and compassionate clinicians work closely with each client to create an individualized treatment plan based on their needs. Each client plays a vital role in their recovery process by setting realistic treatment goals that will address the underlying issues of their disorder. To ensure that our clients have the best chance at recovery, we utilize evidence-based and experiential therapies including Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), and Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) among others.
Anorexia Treatment Options at Shoreline
