Eating disorders: Anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa

Abstract

Eating disorders are chronic mental illnesses that primarily affect teenage girls; depression, anxiety and the mass media lead to modifications of eating habits to achieve "ideal figure” and to be socially accepted. The classifications according to DSM-V for these eating disorders are anorexia nervosa (restrictive type and compulsive / purging type) and bulimia nervosa (subclassified as determinants of gravity based on the bulimic episodes per week). The incidence of these diseases is low, they have little epidemiological registry and are underdiagnosed. The main psychological and physical determinants are extreme preoccupation with food, fear of getting weight, a distorted body image, dehydration and abnormal weight loss; eventually leading to the occurrence of various organic complications such as electrolyte disturbances and malnutrition. Today, there are many ways to facilitate an early detection of risk behaviors and other determining family functioning, depression and anxiety in these people. This treatment is interdisciplinary, based on psychotherapy, in a medical management to organic complications and psychopharmacological treatment aimed at psychiatric comorbidity considering that bulimia nervosa has responded better to antidepressant drugs, while in anorexia nervosa there is not a definitive pharmacological treatment.