What is anorexia?

Anorexia, or 'Manorexia' as dubbed in the press, is an illness in which you continually diet and starve yourself. You may be frightened of putting on weight and act this out by restricting your food and drink intake. You may also binge, vomit, use laxatives or exercise excessively in order to control your weight.

Many people with anorexia feel they do not deserve to occupy space. The more weight they lose, the less of them there is to hate. When others condemn their behaviour and decreased size - this confirms to the sufferer the need to hear they have control.  However, for many trying to control their weight this leads them into a downward spiral as they have no ideal discernible weight that feels safe to them which only exacerbates the illness.

Someone who is anorexic is in a desperate bid to hang onto control and cope with life. It is not a suicide bid, as some people around them often presume. Although, in some instances where side effects are so bad and the anorexia has been going on for some time, the illness can be life threatening.

What is happening?

We all need nourishment to survive and when we deprive our body of the essential food components we need this can effect our body, mind and spirit in a variety of ways. Firstly, you may become frightened of eating and therefore reduce the amount you eat significantly over time. The lack of vital fuel and goodness means that our bodies go into self-defence mode and use up all our reserve fuel supplies (this being fat). In a number of months, you will become much thinner and your body weaker due to the lack of food.

The mind is also affected and it may become harder to make decisions as the chemicals in your brain will be unbalanced. Other mental conditions may also affect your way of thinking, which can vary from person to person. Once a sufferer, realises that losing weight is not the solution to their problems, this may make the eating habits worse and evolve into other methods of control such as bingeing. Sometimes this may lead to other self-harming behaviours.