Am I Experiencing Anorexia?

Anorexia (anorexia nervosa) is a condition characterized by the restriction of energy (food) intake relative to requirements, leading to significantly lower body weight than would be expected. People with anorexia have an intense fear of gaining weight or becoming fat. They often feel a disturbance in the way they perceive their physical traits, and base their self-worth closely upon their weight or appearance. Anorexia nervosa is experienced by between 1 and 4 people out of every 100 (Keski-Rahkonenen & Mustelin, 2016).

The DSM-5 diagnostic criteria for anorexia nervosa include:

• A restricted of energy intake relative to requirements, leading to a significantly low body weight relative to the individual’s age, sex, developmental trajectory, and physical health.
• An intense fear of gaining weight or becoming fat, or persistent behavior that interferes with weight gain, even at a significantly low weight.
• A disturbance in the way one’s body weight or shape is experienced, undue influence of body weight or shape on self-evaluation, or persistent lack of recognition of the seriousness of the current low body weight.

The ICD-11 diagnostic criteria for anorexia nervosa include: 

• A significantly low body weight for the individual’s height, age, developmental stage, or weight history. A commonly used threshold is the body mass index (BMI). Being below 18.5 kg/m2 (for adults) or having a BMI-for-age under the 5th percentile (for children and adolescents) is a sign of anorexia nervosa. 
• A persistent pattern of restrictive eating or other behaviors aimed at establishing or maintaining abnormally low body weight, typically associated with an extreme fear of weight gain. Behaviors may be aimed at reducing energy intake or increasing energy expenditure.
• An excessive preoccupation with body weight or shape. Low body weight is overvalued and central to the person’s self-evaluation, or the person’s body weight or shape is inaccurately perceived to be normal or even excessive. 

Am I Experiencing Anorexia? is an indicative screening tool, designed to help clients self-assess whether their experiences might warrant further investigation. It is not intended to give a formal diagnosis or provide a measure of severity.

“Some people who report similar experiences to yours have a condition called anorexia. Would you like to try a short quiz that could give us an idea of whether this problem troubles you?”

• American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed.).
• Keski-Rahkonen, A., & Mustelin, L. (2016). Epidemiology of eating disorders in Europe: prevalence, incidence, comorbidity, course, consequences, and risk factors. Current Opinion in Psychiatry, 29, 340-345.
• Stansfeld, S., Clark, C., Bebbington, P., King, M., Jenkins, R., & Hinchliffe, S. (2016). Chapter 2: Common mental disorders. In S. McManus, P. Bebbington, R. Jenkins, & T. Brugha (Eds.), Mental health and wellbeing in England: Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey 2014. Leeds: NHS Digital.
• World Health Organization. (2019). ICD-11: International classification of diseases (11th revision). Retrieved from https://icd.who.int/