Eating Disorders

Type of psychology: Psychopathology
Field of study: General constructs and issues
Eating disorders include a group of eating and weight disturbances, including anorexia
nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and binge-eating disorder, associated with underlying
psychological problems.
Key concepts
• anorexia nervosa
• binge-eating disorder
• bulimia nervosa
• eating disorder
• obesity
Eating disorders were identified as early as ancient Roman times, when
banqueters gorged themselves, then induced vomiting. Some of the early
Christian saints were anorexic. However, eating disorders only emerged as
an area of social and medical concern in the second half of the twentieth
century.
Persons with eating disorders have a distorted body image and unrealistic
ideas about weight. Although such disorders are found primarily among
young, middle- to upper-middle-class, well-educated Caucasian women, eating
disorders increasingly affect and may be overlooked in men, older
women, and persons of color. No single factor appears to be the cause of eating
disorders, with social, cultural, psychological, genetic, biological, and
physical factors all playing a part. Treatment may include hospitalization for
nutritional monitoring and for stabilization in persons with serious medical
complications or who are at risk for suicide. Regardless of the setting, treatment
is best carried out by a multidisciplinary team, including a primary
care physician or psychiatrist, a psychotherapist, a nutritionist, and, if appropriate,
a family therapist.
Eating disorders are best thought of as problems involving body weight
and distorted body image on a continuum of severity. The most serious is anorexia
nervosa, a disorder characterized by weight loss greater than or equal
to 15 percent of the body weight normal for the person’s height and age. Bulimia
nervosa is usually found in persons of normal weight and is characterized
by consumption of large amounts of food followed by self-induced vomiting,
purging with diuretics or laxatives, or excessive exercise. Binge-eating
disorder, found usually in persons with some degree of overweight, is characterized
by the consumption of large amounts of food without associated
vomiting or purging. Other, milder, forms of eating disorders are at the least
serious end of the continuum. Obesity may or may not be part of this continuum,
depending on the presence or absence of underlying psychological
problems. About one-third of obese persons have binge-eating disorder.