size zero?

[starvingluv]

Well my question is, do you have to be really skinny to be anorexic or is it mostly a mental disorder. Thanks in advance!

[Mortal Coil]

From what I understand, it's more of an issue with body image and the resultant behavior. Anorexics who are being force-fed, for instance, are often not unnaturally skinny-looking, but they still have the eating disorder.
However, skinniness is present in the vast majority of anorexic people.

[Unbroken]

No, not all anorexic sufferers are skinny but the vast majority are because anorexia is all about body image and wanting to be skinny.

[Lifeguard]

becoming skinny is a side effect

[Destructive Impulse]

Anorexia is all about bein skinnier. It doesnt stop at skinny and its a mindset.

[Gothicdeer]

I'm skinny as a beanpole but I'm not anorexic

[FullyAlive]

I'm skinny as a beanpole but I'm not anorexic

The question wasn't are all skinny people annorexic but rather are annorexic people skinny..

I'm pretty sure that to be diagnosed annorexic you have to be underweight, (i could be wrong) in which case it would stand to reason that the majority of annorexia sufferers would be skinny however it's not a criteria as such. And skinny is a rather subjective term.

But yes anorexia is a mental health problem but with physical side effects.

You might want to look at this post:
http://www.virtualteen.org/forums/showpost.php?p=1134497&postcount=1

[Zeh Crazy]

My doctor told me that I had all of the behaviors and symptoms of anorexia, even though I wasn't technically underweight. Some people lose a lot of weight and some people don't. It's more in your mind than anything. It's the belief that you are larger than what you actually are and the behaviors you enforce because of that belief. Just because you can't see someone's bones doesn't mean that they don't need help or they don't have anorexia.

[Fiction]

In order to be diagnosed with anorexia you must have a BMI of below 17. You do also have to have missed 3 periods, which would require you to be underweight too.

If you don't meet the full criteria you would be diagnosed with EDNOS, rather than anorexia, however this can easily develop into anorexia and is no less serious.

[screamtobeheard]

It's mostly the mindset, but the "standards" for being diagnosed with anorexia nervosa do include being a certain amount underweight. I don't know what that weight is off the top of my head.

On that note, one may behave in the same ways as an anorexic and not be underweight. In this case, the individual would probably be diagnosed as EDNOS (eating disorder not otherwise specified) unless he/she became underweight.