Anorexia Nervosa was formed in France in 1995 by Stefan Bayle (guitar), Marc Zabé (guitar), Pier Couquet (bass), Nilcas Vant (drums) and Stéphane Gerbaud (vocals). They started out playing Death Metal with various other influences. Their first demo, "Nihil Negativum", was released same year they formed and it gained them a solid reputation in the underground.

During a show in Southern France a man from Season of Mist noticed them and offered them a deal. Their first full-length album "Exile" was released in 1997 and finally the band broke out of the underground and gained more succes because of great promotion and tours with bands such as Cradle of Filth, Absu, Enslaved, Misanthrope etc. After the release there were some disagreements and eventually Stéphane Gerbaud and Marc Zabé left the band.

In 1999 the EP "Sodomizing the Archedangel" was released. The album also featured two new, hired, members, Hreidmarr (vocals) and Neb Xort (keyboards). The album was sort of a foretaste of what the next album would sound like. It allowed the band to sign a contract with Osmose Productions and after a French tour, where they supported Immortal, they returned to Drudenhaus Studios and started recording their next album.

In March 2000 "Drudenhaus" was released and it was very well received. Festivals and various other tours followed and eventually the band returned to the studio to record their third album. The result was "New Obscurantis Order" which was released in September 2001. In 2004 they released the compilation album "Suicide is Sexy".

In december 2005, Hreidmarr left the band. On September 19th 2006, Stefan Bayle announced that Hreidmarr's departure has eventually led to the band being on 'stand by' and not much can be said about the future of Anorexia Nervosa at this point.