The American Psychiatric Association (APA) defines eating disorders in its DSM-5 manual as the “persistent change in diet or diet-related behavior, leading to a change in food consumption or absorption and resulting in significant deterioration. Physical health or psychosocial functioning ?.
These disorders, also known as erectile dysfunction, have increased their prevalence over the past thirty years and particularly affect the young and female population, although cases among men are increasing.
- The subtypes that make up these disorders have changed in recent years.
- With the latest edition of the DSM.
- TA includes:.
We can consider the first two subtypes as the most harmful TEs; therefore, in this article, we will focus only on them.
It should be noted that there are other problems of food intake that currently occur in society, among which we highlight overweight (linked to bad eating habits and sedentary lifestyles), vigorexia, megarexia, permarexia and intoxicating.
The review of the scientific literature on eating disorders focuses on the multifactorial nature of the disorder.
“Currently, most researchers agree that eating disorders can be a difficulty in the development of adolescence due to the inability to meet the demands of the growth process, which is particularly complicated given the need to define the identity and sense of one’s capacity?Macas, Unikel, Cross and Knight (2003)
On the other hand, we must not forget the pressure exerted by beauty standards on people, a very important fact because it profoundly influences inappropriate beliefs about the body and body image that underlie these disorders.
The relationship between these two factors indicates that certain traits may be fundamental in the origin, onset and especially in the evolution of eating disorders, studies generally indicate that neurotic personality is associated with eating disorders.
However, some traits are specifically associated with each subtype of eating disorder. When it comes to anorexia nervosa, for example, obsessive behaviors and a great need for control are observed.
In addition, the rigidity of thought also arises, especially with regard to the inappropriate beliefs of the person. Finally, people with anorexia nervosa also encounter traits of addiction and introversion.
On the other hand, mental bulimia is linked to low tolerance to frustration and low impulse control.
In addition, people with this disease tend to have low self-esteem and more anxiety and “interpersonal sensitivity” (Macas et. Al. , 2003) as people suffering from anorexia nervosa. Similarly, due to their strong impulsivity, they can exhibit unpredictable behaviors.
You can’t talk about personality characteristics without evoking disorders of the same nature, there is a strong relationship between personality disorders and eating disorders, in fact, studies indicate a prevalence of between 53% and 93%.
Thus, a link was found between anorexia nervosa and the avoidance of personality disorder, dependent disorder and obsessive-compulsive disorder.
Regarding mental bulimia, the existing literature relates it to emotional disorders, anxiety disorders, and substance abuse disorders.
Given the complexity of treatment imposed by eating disorders, the patient’s personality plays a decisive role, the need for control, impulsivity and lack of mental flexibility are a problem when working with the person.
Therefore, it is recommended to work on these characteristics in therapy, as they influence the maintenance of cognitive beliefs and distortions (which influence mental stiffness), purges and compulsions (impulsivity) and restrictive regimens (e. g. need for control).