Anosognosia and Anorexia Symptoms
Perhaps one of the most troublesome symptoms ofanorexia nervosaand other restrictive eating disorders–especially for family members and treatment professionals—is the patient’s belief that he or she is not ill. The common consequence of not believing one is ill is that he or she does not want to get well. Indeed, a patient’s lack of concern for the problem has long been a defining feature of anorexia nervosa. As far back as 1873, Ernest-Charles Lasègue, a French doctor who was one of the first to describe anorexia nervosa, wrote: “‘I do not suffer and must then be well,’ is the monotonous formula....