ABSTRACT
Eating disorders are characterized by the presence of distinctive psychological and behavioural features, also called their “specific psychopathology”, which may dramatically impair the life of patients with these disorders. The overvaluation of shape, weight, eating, and their control is considered the core psychopathology of eating disorders, as most of the other psychological (e.g., preoccupations about shape, weight, and eating; fear of gaining weight; feeling fat) and behavioural (e.g., dieting, binge eating, other extreme weight-control behaviours) features of eating disorders derive either directly or indirectly from it. Some individuals with eating disorders also have one or more “external”, or “non-specific”, psychological features—such as clinical perfectionism, core low self-esteem, marked interpersonal difficulties, or mood intolerance—which interact with the eating disorder and obstruct treatment progress. Understanding the nature of these features is fundamental to understanding the nature of the eating disorder and the target of enhanced cognitive behaviour therapy.
