Liberal Dictionary English Dictionary
noun Psychiatry.
- an eating disorder primarily affecting adolescent girls and young women, characterized by pathological fear of becoming fat, distorted body image, excessive dieting, and emaciation.
“emaciation as a result of severe emotional disturbance,” coined 1873 by William W. Gull (1816-1890), who also proposed apepsia hysterica as a name for it. See anorexia.
n.
- An eating disorder usually occurring in young women, characterized by fear of becoming obese, a persistent aversion to food, and severe weight loss, often causing amenorrhea and other physiological changes.
- An eating disorder characterized by a distorted body image, fear of becoming obese, persistent aversion to food, and severe weight loss and malnutrition. It most commonly affects teenage girls and young women, who often develop amenorrhea, osteoporosis and other abnormalities.
A psychosomatic disorder in which the sufferer refuses to eat and undertakes activities (such as self-induced vomiting) to bring about extreme weight loss. Anorexia, which is also characterized by a distorted self-image, occurs most often in young women aged twelve to twenty-one and may result in death if medical treatment is not obtained. Treatment for anorexia often includes extensive counseling to reveal underlying emotional problems.