The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) lists four criteria that should be met before a diagnosis of Anorexia Nervosa can be confirmed. These are:

• extreme weight loss (usually about 15 per cent or more of your ideal body weight) or a refusal to maintain a healthy weight for your age;

• over-valuing thinness insofar as nothing in life seems more important than the number on the scale;

• perceiving your body in such a way that only you think you are overweight or fat while everyone else can clearly see you are quite emaciated;

• and finally, and for females, missing three consecutive menstrual periods when you are at an age where regular menses are expected.

As you can see, these criteria are fairly strict and, as Professor Daniel le Grange explains in My Kid Is Back, if one examines the prevalence numbers for Anorexia Nervosa among young women (about one in a hundred adolescent girls), you might comment that relatively few teens meet these strict criteria.

This is correct! However, as many of the parents in My Kid Is Back highlight, early recognition of signs of this disorder is paramount. Being able to intervene even before someone presents with all four of these criteria provides the sufferer a great advantage in terms of quick and full recovery. In other words, many more children and teens meet some criteria for anorexia nervosa, or Eating Disorder Not Otherwise Specified (as per the
DSM) or sub-clinical anorexia nervosa. My Kid Is Back emphasises the point that when you notice the first signs of Anorexia Nervosa you should act as expeditiously, as you would when you are presented with the distressing news that your child indeed meets all criteria for Anorexia Nervosa.

Parents should be encouraged to trust their gut feelings. Therefore, if there appears reason for worry, parents should share their anxiety about their teen’s eating habits with a professional who specialises in the treatment of adolescents with eating disorders.

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