Fasting and starvation

The major psychological effects of fasting and starvation are difficult to sort out from a person’s response to the circumstances under which the fasting occurs. Most of human starvation has occurred involuntarily in the context of famines, warfare, sieges, and, in the twentieth century, concentration camps and other genocidal institutions. Under such situations, it has not been possible to differentiate the effects of threat, torture, intimidation, oppression, and social disruption from those of “pure” starvation on the psychological reactions of the population under consideration. The notion of “pure” starvation is itself an oversimplification, since even inadequate diets have different physical and psychological effects depending upon the quality and nutrient content of whatever foods are available. For example, a diet adequate in calories might be deficient in proteins or essential vitamins, with the subsequent development of various diseases and syndromes of malnutrition, such as rickets, scurvy, and kwashiorkor.