I’m really fat!

Abstract

Introduction The eating disorders are changes in eating behaviour associated with distortions in the self-concept and self-image, pathological fear of getting fat, morbid motivation for thinness and changes in appetite and its control, with or without compensatory attitudes. In the DSM-5 and in the CID-10, the two fundamental diagnostics are anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa. Purpose Characterization of the Portuguese population concerning eating disorders incidence. Methods Bibliographic revision through Pubmed until 2013, using the keywords: anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, eating disorders. Psychometric instruments like the Eating Disorder Examination 12th version (Cooper and Fairburn, 1987), Eating Attitudes Test/EAT-25 (Garner e Garfinkel, 1979) and the Eating Disorder Inventory (Garner et al., 1983; Machado et al., 2001) contributed for the characterization of the Eating Disorders in the Portuguese population. Results The Eating Disorders have a higher incidence in the young Caucasian woman, living in the urban area. The combination of the restrictive diet with intense physical exercise in the anorexia nervosa very often evolves with negative emotions. The emotional instability, namely the dysphoria, the anxiety and the sleep pattern changes are frequent. The bulimia nervosa initially manifests itself by restrictive diet, which evolves to excessive food intake episodes getting increasingly frequent and intense. Conclusions The Eating Disorders come from the gene-environment interaction and risk premorbid biological and psychological changes may result. These are inseparable from the interaction with the social context where the epigenetic mechanisms may play an important role. The reason for thinness, limitations at the level of interoception and obsessive-compulsive character traits are predisposing factors.