Eating Disorder: The Causes and Effects

Abstract

Eating disorders (EDs) are a group of psychosomatic disorders characterized by abnormal eating behavior and psychological disorders, with high mortality and easy chronicity. Eating disorders characterized by bulimic behavior include binge eating disorder (BED) and bulimia nervosa (BN) while eating disorders characterized by anorexic behavior include anorexia nervosa (AN). Patients can experience varying mental distress, various somatic complications, and impairment of health and social functioning. Although the pathogenesis of the disease has not been completely elucidated, there is inevitably a strong connection with psychological, biological, family, and social factors. Among them, genetic factors play a tremendous role, with a genetic potential of 28% to 83%. The main treatments nowadays are cognitive behavioral therapy guided self-help (CBT-GSH) which is a kind of cognitive behavioral therapy, dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), interpersonal psychotherapy (IPT), and family-based treatment (FBT). However, the advent of virtual reality technology has provided new ideas for interventions in eating disorders in which binge eating behavior is the main symptom. Virtual reality technology intervenes with BED/BN populations by taking an emotional and cognitive perspective. Related studies show virtual reality exposure therapy is more effective than traditional interventions for BED/BN populations.