At present, medical experts generally believe that the reason anorexia is relatively difficult to cure is that it is simply a pathological variant on the perfectly normal desire to control one's food intake, and many anorexics cannot acknowledge that they have crossed the line. In contrast, bulimia, which is another eating disorder, is recognized even by sufferers as being abnormal behavior, and they therefore respond better to treatment.
目前醫界普遍認為厭食症較難治癒，是因為節食欲望雖然人人都有，但這種自虐式的絕食已過於極端而偏執；反倒本就屬於反常行為的暴食症，會有較好的治癒成效。