ABSTRACT
The term eating disorder is used in psychiatry to denote two closely related syndromes, anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa. The central feature of these disorders is a set of characteristic beliefs and values concerning the pre-eminence of body shape and weight in self-evaluation. The aetiology of eating disorders is poorly understood, but it is widely accepted that a combination of biological, psychological and social factors are implicated. Being a young woman in an economically developed country is a clear risk factor for eating disorders, presumably because of the social pressures to be slim. Eating disorders run in families. While childhood sexual abuse is raised in people with eating disorders compared to psychiatrically well controls, the rate is no higher than in those with other psychiatric disorders. The onset of eating disorders is often preceded by a significant life event, but there appears to be no specificity in the form of such events.
