Anorexia Nervosa Anorexia nervosa is an illness that usually occurs in teenage girls, like both of the articles I read, but it can also occur in boys. People with anorexia are obsessed with being thin. Anorexic people lose a lot of weight, and are also terrified of gaining any weight. Anorexia is not just a problem with food or weight, but it is also an attempt to use food and weight to deal with emotional problems. Sufferers have a distorted body image, and “see” themselves as fat, even when they are of normal weight, or even emaciated (extreme thinness). Anorexia is sometimes also known as the slimming disease. The reason some people get anorexia is not really known, and is a huge debate.