The plural form of anorexia; multiple cases or types of loss of appetite, including the eating disorder.
Plural of 'anorexia,' from Greek 'an-' (without) + 'orexis' (appetite). The singular form entered English medical terminology in the 1600s, with the plural following standard English pluralization rules.
While most people think 'anorexia' refers only to the eating disorder, doctors use 'anorexias' when discussing various appetite-suppressing conditions—cancer patients, people on certain medications, and others with medical anorexias that are completely different from the psychiatric condition.
Anorexia nervosa entered medical discourse in the 1870s but became culturally coded as a 'young woman's disease' by the mid-20th century, obscuring its presentation in men, children, and older adults and delaying diagnosis in non-female populations.
Use 'anorexia' as a clinical diagnosis applicable to all genders; explicitly acknowledge in medical and public health contexts that eating disorders affect men, transgender individuals, and people across the lifespan at significant but underreported rates.
Female and LGBTQ+ researchers and clinicians have been instrumental in expanding diagnostic criteria and treatment approaches to recognize eating disorders across all populations, countering decades of gender-biased research and practice.
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