Eating disorders (DCA) or eating disorders are pathologies characterized by an alteration in eating habits and an excessive concern for weight and body shapes. They arise mainly during adolescence and mainly affect the female sex. The typical behaviors of an eating disorder are: decreased food intake, fasting, bulimic crises (ingesting a large amount of food in a short period of time), vomiting to control weight, use of anorectics, laxatives or diuretics for the purpose of weight control, intense physical activity. Some people may resort to one or more of these behaviors, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they suffer from an eating disorder.
The main eating disorders are the ‘ anorexia nervosa , a bulimia nervosa and binge eating disorder (or binge eating disorder, BED); diagnostic manuals, moreover, also describe other related disorders, such as eating disorders (feeding disorders) and subthreshold eating disorders , category used to describe those patients who despite having a clinically significant eating disorder, do not meet the criteria for a full diagnosis.
Suffering from an eating disorder disrupts a person’s life and limits his or her relational, work and social skills. For the person suffering from an eating disorder, everything revolves around food and the fear of gaining weight. Things that previously seemed trivial now become difficult and cause for anxiety, such as going to a pizzeria or restaurant with friends, attending a birthday or a wedding. Often thoughts about food haunt the person even when he is not at the table, for example at school or at work; finishing a task can become very difficult because in the head it seems that there is only room for thoughts about what to “eat”, about the fear of getting fat or having a bulimic crisis.
Only a small percentage of people suffering from an eating disorder ask for help. In anorexia nervosathis can happen because the person at first does not always realize that he has a problem. In fact, at first, weight loss can make a person feel better, leaner, more beautiful and more confident. Sometimes people get compliments on their initial weight loss and this can reinforce the feeling that they are doing the right thing. But when things start to worry, because weight loss is excessive or in any case involves a major change in the person, many people do not know how to approach the subject. Generally it is family members who, first, alarmed by excessive weight loss, realize that something is wrong. However, even for them it is not easy to intervene,
Even those who suffer from bulimia nervosa often go to a therapist only after many years from when the disorder began; as in anorexia , initially there is no full awareness of having a disease, but above all a strong sense of shame and guilt seems to “prevent” the person from asking for help or simply confiding to someone that they have this type of problem. Failure to recognize that you have a problem or use the symptoms of your eating disorder to try to resolve your difficulties can have major consequences for seeking treatment .
A characteristic almost always present in those suffering from an eating disorder is the alteration of the body image which can become a real disorder. The perception that the person has of his own appearance or the way in which the idea of his body and its forms was formed in his mind, seem to influence his life more than his real image. Often those with anorexia cannot judge their body objectively; the image that the mirror sends back is in their eyes that of a girl with too wide hips, too big thighs and too “big” belly. For people suffering from bulimia nervosathe anguish can be even stronger due to the fact that losing control over food makes one perceive the body weight (which is very often normal) as excessive. In both anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa , self-evaluation depends excessively on the weight and shape of one’s body.
Eating disorder is often associated with other psychiatric conditions, particularly depression, but also with anxiety disorders, alcohol or substance abuse, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and personality disorders. There may be self-aggressive behaviors, such as self-harm (for example, scratching or cutting oneself to small wounds, burning body parts) and suicide attempts. This type of disorders occupy a very particular space in psychiatry, since in addition to “hitting” the mind and therefore causing intense psychological suffering, they also involve the body with sometimes very serious physical complications.
