Although in terms of national statisitics, the number of people shown to have this condition do not look all that alarming, it appears to be that the case that many go unreported. It is afterall an ailment has a lot to with guilt. Most sufferers also are embarrassed and are unwilling to share about their anorexia symptoms with their family and friends. In addition, many who are anorexic simply fail to realise that they are suffering from an eating disorder and refuse to seek treatment.

Still, identifying anorexic symptoms in yourself or others is much simpler than trying to identify other eating disorders. This is because the effects of anorexia are quite drastic and they change the sufferer's emotional soundness and physical image thoroughly.

Anorexia is, like most other eating disorders, emotionally driven but it will also have emotional consequences on its own. A distorted self-body image and an addiction to losing weight are typical emotional causes that can trigger the condition. This can lead to methods such as extreme and voluntary starvation or extreme exercising with the purpose of attaining a perfect body at all costs.

If you find yourself being overly preoccupied by your body image or if you find yourself "punishing" your body through exercising or lack of food, you may be showing some anorexia symptoms. Of course, most of us do go through periods in life during which we are not very happy with our own body image. However, these periods tend to be short lived and do not persist. On the other hand, if you continue to believe that you are overweight when you are clearly not, you may have a full blown case of anorexia.

In many cases, you are generally aware that what you are doing is wrong. You are aware that extreme exercising and starvation will eventually destroy your body. Yet you are unable to stop yourself from engaging in all your extreme practices. This then creates feelings of guilt as you find that you are unable to overcome your addictions and appear to be failing miserably.

The feeling of being powerless can be engulfing during these times and invariably, depression sets in. If left unspotted and untreated, your anorexia symptoms can be dangerous. Your total well being and mental health breaks down with disastrous consequences.