Eating Disorders and Behaviors

Eating disorders and disordered eating behaviors—ranging from anorexia and bulimia to binge eating and chronic dietary restriction—affect millions of people across all demographics, carrying some of the highest mortality rates of any psychiatric condition. Researchers in this area work to understand how genetic predispositions interact with psychological vulnerabilities, neurobiological circuits governing reward and hunger, and external pressures like media exposure and cultural beauty standards to produce and sustain these conditions. Adolescents receive particular attention because this is often when disordered patterns first emerge, making early identification and intervention critical. Open questions include why existing treatments fail a substantial portion of patients, how specific genetic markers translate into clinical risk, and how to disentangle the causal relationships between body image distortion, emotional dysregulation, and the behaviors themselves.

Works

126,158

Total citations

2,516,574

Keywords

Eating DisordersBody ImageObesityGeneticsPsychological FactorsNeurobiological Correlates