Anorexia nervosa

Anorexia nervosa, also known as nervous loss of appetite, is characterized by long-term anorexia of unknown cause and significant weight loss. The age of onset is above 10 years, with female adolescents being more commonly affected. If not treated promptly, it can lead to severe malnutrition and extreme exhaustion, affecting the physical and mental health and development of adolescents. It is a mental disorder whose cause has not been fully identified, characterized by long-term excessive dieting or refusal to eat in order to maintain a thin body shape, resulting in sharp weight loss, nutritional deficiency, and metabolic and endocrine dysfunction, which can be life-threatening in severe cases. It is more common in adolescence, with a much higher prevalence in females than in males. Anorexia nervosa, also called psychogenic anorexia, abbreviated as anorexia, is a psychophysiological disorder in which the patient intentionally causes a significant decrease in body weight to below the normal physiological standard weight and strives to maintain this state.