Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-77c89778f8-cnmwb Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-22T13:34:50.661Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

11 - Eating disorders

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2018

Get access

Summary

Overview

This chapter will explore the whole range of eating disorders, starting with the most widespread problem of obesity and possible treatment approaches for this serious and costly condition. Patients with psychiatric disorders tend to die earlier and have greater physical health morbidity than the general population. Many of the drugs routinely prescribed in mental health practice contribute to obesity, yet the problem of obesity has often been ignored by mental health providers. However, we are now beginning to realise the health implications of this. Behavioural and cognitive treatments for all types of eating disorders will be examined. Case examples of treatments for obesity, bulimia and anorexia nervosa will be presented. These will include clinical cases which encourage examination of addictive and obsessive personality traits in these disorders.

Eating disorders are a major problem in industrialised societies. These range from obesity, with its effects on mortality and morbidity and a huge cost to the NHS, to anorexia and bulimia, which appear to be on the increase and in the case of anorexia is starting in increasingly younger children, particularly girls.

Obesity

Obesity has been called the scourge of industrialised society. An abundance of plentiful cheap food and a sedentary lifestyle has meant that the number of obese and overweight people is increasing every year. Indeed, the prevalence of obesity in England has more than tripled in the past 25 years and the 2010 Health Survey for England (Office for National Statistics, 2011) found that:

  • • 63% of adults (aged 16 or over) were overweight or obese

  • • 30% of children (aged 2–15 years) were overweight or obese

  • • 26% of all adults and 16% of all children were obese.

  • The most common way to judge whether an individual is overweight or not is to use the BMI which is obtained by dividing the weight (in kilograms) by height (in meters squared (kg/m2)). This method has some limitations as athletes and people who engage in many hours of sports a week can have a high BMI despite having normal fat composition. Also some ethnic groups have slightly different BMI values for health. However, in general the classification in Table 11.1 is accurate.

    Type
    Chapter
    Information
    CBT for Adults
    A Practical Guide for Clinicians
    , pp. 171 - 187
    Publisher: Royal College of Psychiatrists
    Print publication year: 2014

    Access options

    Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

    Save book to Kindle

    To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

    Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

    Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

    Available formats
    ×

    Save book to Dropbox

    To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

    Available formats
    ×

    Save book to Google Drive

    To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

    Available formats
    ×