Licenciatura En Psicologia

Anorexia nervosa
Last updated: may 18, 2005
Background: anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder characterized by severe weight loss to the point of significant physiologic consequences. Diagnosticcriteria include an intense fear of obesity despite siendemess, an overwhelming body-image percepción of being fat , weght loss of at least 25% from baseline or failure to gain weight appropriately(resulting in weight 25% less than would be expected from the patient´s previous growth curve), absence of other physical illnesses to explain the weight loss or altered body-image perceptión, and atleast 3 weeks of secondary amenorrhea or primary amenorrhea in a prepubescent adolescent.
Associated physical characteristic include excessive physical activity, denial of hunger in the face ofstarvation, academic success, asexual behavior ,and a history of extreme weight loss methods (eg, diurectics, laxatives, ampheramines, emetics). Psychiatric characteristics include excessive dependencyneeds, developmental immaturity, behavior favoring isolation, obsessive-compulsive behavior , and constriction of affect.
Patients with anorexia nervosa generally fall into 2 categories: (1) those whopractice extreme food restriction behaviors and (2) those who display food binge/purge behavior.
Pathophysiology: Anorexia nervosa is thought to result from psychological, biological, and societalstresses involving sexual development at puberty. Prepubescent patients who subsequently develop anorexia nervosa have a high incidence of premorbid anxiety disorder. The patient´s altered body imageresults in a perception of fatness. Attemps to correct this flaw through food restriction or progressive purging lead to progressive starvation. Modern preoccupation with slendedrness and beauty in theWelstem world may contribute to the mindset of slenderness as a valued quality in adolescents.
Malnutrition subsequent to self-starvation leads to protein deficiency and disruption of multiple organ...