Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2015 Jul;57(Suppl 2):S286-95.
doi: 10.4103/0019-5545.161493.

Eating disorders in women

Pratap Sharan  1 , A Shyam Sundar  2
Affiliations
Review

Eating disorders in women

Pratap Sharan et al. Indian J Psychiatry. 2015 Jul.

Abstract

Eating disorders, especially anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa have been classically described in young females in Western population. Recent research shows that they are also seen in developing countries including India. The classification of eating disorders has been expanded to include recently described conditions like binge eating disorder. Eating disorders have a multifactorial etiology. Genetic factor appear to play a major role. Recent advances in neurobiology have improved our understanding of these conditions and may possibly help us develop more effective treatments in future. Premorbid personality appears to play an important role, with differential predisposition for individual disorders. The role of cultural factors in the etiology of these conditions is debated. Culture may have a pathoplastic effect leading to non-conforming presentations like the non fat-phobic form of anorexia nervosa, which are commonly reported in developing countries. With rapid cultural transformation, the classical forms of these conditions are being described throughout the world. Diagnostic criteria have been modified to accommodate for these myriad presentations. Treatment of eating disorders can be quite challenging, given the dearth of established treatments and poor motivation/insight in these conditions. Nutritional rehabilitation and psychotherapy remains the mainstay of treatment, while pharmacotherapy may be helpful in specific situations.

Keywords: Culture; India; eating disorder; fat phobia; women.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of Interest: None declared

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Andersen AE, Yager J. Eating disorders. In: Sadock BJ, Sadock VA, Ruiz P, editors. Kaplan and Sadock's Comprehensive Textbook of Psychiatry. 9th ed. Lippincott Williams and Wilkins: Philadelphia; 2009. pp. 2128–49.
    1. Mond J, Rodgers B, Hay P, Korten A, Owen C, Beumont P. Disability associated with community cases of commonly occurring eating disorders. Aust N Z J Public Health. 2004;28:246–51. - PubMed
    1. Zabala MJ, Macdonald P, Treasure J. Appraisal of caregiving burden, expressed emotion and psychological distress in families of people with eating disorders: A systematic review. Eur Eat Disord Rev. 2009;17:338–49. - PubMed
    1. Harris EC, Barraclough B. Excess mortality of mental disorder. Br J Psychiatry. 1998;173:11–53. - PubMed
    1. Casper RC. On the emergence of bulimia nervosa as a syndrome. Int J Eat Disord. 1983;2:3–16.