[Overweight (obesity) from the psychiatric viewpoint and its relevance for general practice]

Obesity is of great importance for health and health economy. It often goes along with immense subjective and objective suffering. It has traditionally been a topic of general and internal medicine. This article summarizes results derived from recent psychiatric and psychotherapeutic approaches, that may also be of interest for the somatic physician as they contribute to the understanding and therapeutic management of the disease. Common definitions of obesity and epidemiologic data are presented. Traditional therapeutic approaches such as reducing diets often turned out to be insufficient. New knowledge, especially on ponderal and nutritional physiology (set point theory of body weight, investigations of dietary effects), studies about comorbidity with disturbed eating habits (particularly binge eating and bulimia) and about psychodynamics and life quality are expected to contribute to a better understanding of this phenomenon.