eating disorders

The consumption of food is not only crucial for our daily dietary intake of nutrients and energy but it also requires a lot of our time everyday.

 

A large part of the population is characterized by abnormal eating habits that negatively affect people’s physical and mental health. Those people are diagnosed for an eating disorder. Eating disorders are mental disorders caused by a variety of factors, both environmental and biological. Also some cultural beliefs about the ideal body and the idealization of thinness may contribute to the appearance of these disorders.

These abnormal eating habits include strict diets, excessive exercise, purging behaviors after consumption of great amounts of food etc.

Eating disorders are associated with a psychopathology centered around the body’s image disturbance. In most of the occasions, people depend their self-worth on their weight and shape, they fear of gaining weight even though they are underweight, and also express denial of severe symptoms.

Eating disorders can affect people of all ages including men and children.

Team work by a psychiatrist, a dietitian and a physician is strongly recommended in order to have a positive outcome when it comes to the treatment of eating disorders.