Eating Disorders
Key points
- This chapter provides an overview of the major eating disorders: anorexia nervosa, bulimia, and obesity.
- Binge eating disorder is discussed as a subset of bulimia and of obesity.
- In reading this review, keep in mind that eating disorders are not illnesses per se but behavioral syndromes that develop in individuals who manifest a broad spectrum of psychological, biological, and sociocultural characteristics.
- Recognition of the psychophysiological impact of associated medical complications and identification of psychiatric comorbidity are of critical importance in the diagnoses and treatment of these disorders.
Eating Disorders
Written and revised by
Gerald Hurowitz, M.D.
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