Anorexia Nervosa of Adolescence the Central Syndrome of the Anorexia Nervosa Group

Abstract

The first descriptions of anorexia nervosa, categorized in various ways, date back to the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries (Rudolph, 1970; Schadewaldt, 1965; Thomä, 1961). It seems clear that the condition has become more frequent in recent years, even though we must allow for the fact that such patients were formerly seldom seen by the psychiatrist, but were treated in general or paediatric hospitals as subjects of an endocrine disorder. It has been suggested that the recent increase in the incidence is related to the emancipation of women (von Baeyer, 1965), and to the increasing number of professional women who are mothers.