Anorexia Nervosa   Definition: Anorexia is characterized by a significant weight loss that has resulted from excessive dieting.  People with anorexia consider themselves to be fat, irrespective of their actual weight.  They often do not recognize that they are thin and even those close to death can often show you areas of their bodies that they still “need” to lose weight from.  The desire to become thin means the person will avoid food, which can result in death.  It is estimated that up to 20% of people with anorexia will die from complications related to the disorder.  Anorexia typically occurs in early to mid-adolescence, and approximately 95% of those diagnoses are female.   The process of eating often becomes an obsession with the development of unusual eating habits such as avoidance of food or meals, selecting only a few foods and eating small portions of these, or weighing food before it is eaten.  Repeated checking of weight and other weight control methods such as excessive exercise or abuse of laxatives is also common.    The course and outcome varies significantly between people.  Some people may fully recover after one episode; some people have a fluctuating pattern of weight gain and relapse while others may experience deteriorating health over many years.    Although anorexia focuses on food, the disease is thought to also be a coping mechanism for emotional problems, perfectionism or a desire for control.  It is common for people with anorexia to equate their self-worth with how thin they perceive themselves to be.    Treatment for anorexia aims to provide the individual with a healthier sense of self, develop healthier eating habits and reverse some of the disorder’s more serious complications.  The specific cause of anorexia is unknown however it is generally attributed to a combination of psychological, biological and socio-cultural factors.  Diagnosis of anorexia typically involves many tests, including physical exam, laboratory tests, psychological evaluations and other studies such as X-ray or Electrocardiogram (ECG).