ABSTRACT
Eating disorders are characterised by the presence of specific psychological and behavioural features that impair the life of young people with these disorders. This chapter describes the principal psychological and behavioural features of eating disorders, the vicious cycles they generate, why these are self-perpetuating and difficult to break and the damage they wreak in young people’s lives. Understanding the nature of these features is fundamental to understanding the nature of the eating disorder and overcoming it through enhanced cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT-E).
