Anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa: causal theories and treatment

Anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa are eating disorders characterized by gross disturbances in eating behavior. Recently these disorders have reached near-epidemic proportions, affecting approximately 1.2 million adolescent and young adult females in the United States. The incidence in males is considerably less, and the prevalence rate has remained fixed at 5 percent during the last five years. The estimates of mortality range between 1 and 15 percent and are equally divided between medical complications (electrolyte disturbance, acute kidney failure, cardiac complications) and suicide. Successful treatment requires a combination of aggressive medical management, psychotherapy, behavioral management, food-intake management and nutritional counseling. This requires health care providers to understand 1) the psychological ramifications of these disorders, 2) the types of depression associated with them, 3) antidepressants used and therapeutic dosages, 4) correction of nutritional deficiencies, 5) outpatient management and 6) indications for hospitalization (inpatient management).