Anorexia nervosa

An ambulance has just brought Katie, a 17-year-old girl suffering from repeated fainting spells, to A&E. Katie is not in a communicative mood during your examination, her answers are short and reluctant, her most recent fainting has not taken her by surprise. She insists that everything is fine and that she was only tired. She also says that she is used to occasional fainting, reassuring you that everything will be okay and asking you to let her go home. She explains her malnutrition by loss of appetite and by stomach ache. According to her, everything is related to increased stress due to this year’s school-leaving exam.