Terminology

Terminology

Anorexia" and "anorexia nervosa" are two different terms having different meanings.
The word "anorexia" means loss of appetite but when combined with "nervosa" it implies an eating disorder caused by an extreme fear of obesity. People are usually confused about the true meaning of anorexia often linking it to a mental illness or a psychological disorder. There are various medical problems like influenza, chronic pain, anxiety, depression, hepatitis, gastric ulcer, cancer etc. which can cause "anorexia" or "loss of appetite" in a person. Thus an anorexic can be described as a person who's experiencing a loss of appetite, which can be due to any number of reasons.