Anorexia nervosa Artwork of a woman with anorexia nervosa looking at herself in the mirror Anorexia nervosa or slimmers disease is an eating disorder characterized by intense fear of being fat wilful avoidance of food and severe weight loss It mostly affects teenage girls and young women The woman pictured is slim but her mirror image is obese This is to represent the fact that sufferers have a distorted body image and see themselves as much fatter than they actually are Hospital treatment is often necessary to help sufferers gain weight Psychotherapy may be needed for many months or years after reaching a normal weight to try to prevent relapses