The clinical characteristics of anorexia and bulimia nervosa

Anorexia nervosa is typified by:
 - low body weight ( being less than 85% of expected weight);
 - anxiety;
 - an unrealistic body image;
 - amenorrhea.
It is a disorder found mostly in young women in Western and middle-class culture, and has increased in the last 20 years.

Bulimia nervosa is typified by:
 - body weight being usually within 10% of normal weight;
 - episodes of binge eating and purging;
 - lack of control over eating when bingeing;
 - self evaluation depending excessively on body shape;
Stufferers may also have been anorexic.
The condition is also increasing in Western society as well as elsewhere.