Anorexia Nervosa
Anorexia nervosa, which primarily affects adolescent girls and young women, is characterized by distorted
body image and excessive dieting that leads to severe weight loss with a pathological fear of
becoming fat. The criteria have several minor but important changes:
• Criterion A focuses on behaviors, like restricting calorie intake, and no longer includes the word
“refusal” in terms of weight maintenance since that implies intention on the part of the patient and
can be difficult to assess. The DSM-IV Criterion D requiring amenorrhea, or the absence of at least
three menstrual cycles, will be deleted. This criterion cannot be applied to males, pre-menarchal
females, females taking oral contraceptives and post-menopausal females. In some cases, individuals
exhibit all other symptoms and signs of anorexia nervosa but still report some menstrual activity.