[Eating disorders (I)--medical and psychiatric aspects]

Adolescent, predominantly female patients suffering from eating disorders usually reveal characteristic personality traits which should be taken into account during the treatment of such cases. Some patients deny their illness, others again feel ashamed of it. At any rate, we ought to respect the patients' integrity and their sense of self-worth. Such disorders tend to result from the stress of being unable to cope with the multiple demands made by the biological and social changes of the patients' development into full maturity. Additional predisposing factors should be noted. Eating disorders are often accompanied by specific psychic and somatic symptoms in terms of comorbidity. These symptoms have to be anamnestically accounted for since they may later result in oral symptoms. A considerable number of these patients suffering from eating disorders either do not completely recover or else tend to relapse.