Eating Disorders among Psychic Patients: A Clinical Study

Background: Eating disorders (ED) are common conditions that have gained increasing attention over the last two decades. This study was conducted to correlate the eating disorder with body weight dissatisfaction (BWD) and body shape dissatisfaction (BSD) in study population. Materials & Methods: This study was conducted in department of Psychiatry in year 2012. It was cross sectional type of study conducted on 2360 patients visited the department with any psychiac disorders. Patient information regarding name, age, gender etc was recorded. Body mass index (BMI) was also recorded. Patients were asked to reply the Eating aptitude test (EAT) and BSQ questionnaire. EAT is 26 items evaluated attitudes, feelings and preoccupations in relation to food and weight. The BSQ is a self-report, 34 items questionnaire that evaluates feelings of low self-esteem, the desire to lose weight and body dissatisfaction. For detecting body shape dissatisfaction (BSD), Cooper and Taylor classification was used. The BSD value, <81-slight BSD value, 81- 110- moderate BSD and BSD value 111-140- extreme BSD. For detecting BWD, discrepancy between students current and desired weight was considered. Results: Out of 520 patients, 250 (48%) were males and 270 (51%) were females. 40% (208) had BSD, 60% (312) had BWD, 20% (104) had positive EAT, 60% (338) had normal weight, 10 % (52) had underweight and 25% (130) had overweight. The magnitudes of BSD in patients with positive EAT. 94 patients (90%) with a positive EAT expressed BSD. Out of 104 slightly dissatisfied BSD patients, 26 had positive EAT. Of 56 moderately dissatisfied BSD patients, 54 had positive EAT. Of 48 severely dissatisfied BSD patients, 14 had positive EAT. The difference was significant (P<0.05). Patients with overweight had significantly higher BSD, BWD and positive EAT Conclusion: Eating disorders are increasing day by day. This is an alarming signal for most of the people and westernization is playing important role in this. There is need to educate the people psychologically also.