ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses primarily on the diagnosis, prevalence, assessment and treatment of anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa and binge eating disorder in adults, although the principles enunciated are generally also applicable to the assessment of children and adolescents with eating disorders. Eating disorders in general are most prevalent in western culture where the female beauty ideal is tied to thinness, and cultural messages about dieting and thinness are proposed to play a major role in the development of weight and shape dissatisfaction. These cultural preferences are communicated through a complex and multidimensional set of channels, such as the media, fashion, popular culture, economic structures and values, and expectations. The clinical interview should also review other psychiatric symptoms: comorbidity is the rule rather than the exception in patients with eating disorders. Knowledge of psychiatric comorbidities is necessary, as these should be treated concurrently with the eating disorder in order to optimize the chance of full recovery from the eating disorder.
