Eating Disorders
Section committee
CASTELLINI Giovanni , Chair
Section mission
This Section's mission is to:
Promote high standards in research, training and clinical practice in the field of so severe and disabling psychiatric disorders.
Eating disorders are one of the most common health problems in adolescents and young adults of Western countries. They are more common in females and include anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, binge-eating disorder and other unspecified or otherwise specified eating disorders. Although they are primarily psychiatric disorders, they may have serious and severe consequences on the physical health of affected people, representing one of the most frequent causes of disability for young people, carrying also a significant risk for death. The WHO identified eating disorders as a priority for the mental health of adolescents and young adults.
Section objectives
- To enhance the attention of both mental and non-mental health specialists (practitioners) toward eating disorders
- To disseminate updated knowledge relevant to etiopathogenesis, prevention, diagnosis and treatment of eating disorders
- To advance the development of evidence-based therapeutic interventions
- To develop proposals for adoption as EPA consensus and position statements in the field of eating disorders
- To encourage research on the identification of at risk subjects
- To establish working relations with national and international organizations sharing the goals of the EPA in the field of the Section
- To address ethical issues in research and clinical care involving people with schizophrenia
- To identify unmet needs and means to address them
- To develop and deliver training courses for undergraduate, postgraduate and continuing professional development
- To compare clinical service, training, research and policy across Europe
- To share information of different practices and legislation in different parts of Europe
- To fight stigma and discrimination of people with eating disorders
Annual reports
Future Activities
symposium
Incompleteness of current diagnostic criteria of eating disorders: prognostic and therapeutic implications
05 April 2025 - 08 April 2025 / Madrid EPA Congress 2025
Description :
Current DSM-5 and ICD-11 diagnostic criteria for anorexia nervosa (AN) and bulimia nervosa (BN) are quite similar. Both diagnostic systems focus on eating-specific psychopathology as main aspects of the disorders. However, recent studies suggested that also general psychopathological symptoms, such as depressive, anxiety or post-traumatic symptoms, have a central role in the psychopathology of both AN and BN, although they are not accounted for in the diagnostic criteria. Moreover, the severity of AN and BN is graduated only based on the degree of underweight and the frequency of purging behaviors, respectively, while no consideration is given to the chronicity of the disorders and/or to their unresponsiveness to treatments. Furthermore, in some people with AN or BN excessive physical activity is the prevalent behavior to obtain weight loss and/or prevent weight gain, being an extremely rewarding activity that may persist despite its potential harmful consequences. The aim of this symposium is to provide the scientific evidence supporting the need to implement current diagnostic criteria of eating disorders with a more accurate characterization of psychopathology and a more precise graduation of the severity of the disorder.
To this purpose, Prof. Alessio M. Monteleone will illustrate the psychopathology of eating disorders seen through the lens of the network analysis and will show how the knowledge provided by that assessment method may inform diagnostic and treatment procedures. Prof. Laura Di Lodovico will discuss the importance of compulsive physical exercise in the clinical presentation of anorexia nervosa and its potential role in the diagnostic criteria. Prof. Fernando Fernandez-Aranda will focus on the usefulness of severity criteria in DSM-5 eating disorders and will show the existing gaps. Prof. Ulrike Schmidt will discuss current knowledge about illness stages in anorexia nervosa and their therapeutic and prognostic implications.
Alessio Maria Monteleone: Can network analysis inform diagnostic and treatment procedures? Evidence and perspectives in eating disorders
Department of Psychiatry, University of Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”, Naples, Italy
Ulrike Schmidt: What do we know about illness stages in anorexia nervosa?
Professor of Eating Disorders, King's College London
Fernando Fernandez-Aranda: usefulness of Severity criteria in DSM EDs and existing gaps.
Director Unitat Trastorns Alimentaris
Catedràtic, Universitat de Barcelona
Subdirector CIBERobn
Servei Psicologia Clínica
Hospital Universitari de Bellvitge-ICS
Laura Di Lodovico: Compulsive exercise: the neglected "Cinderella" of the diagnostic criteria of anorexia nervosa
Hôpital Sainte-Anne
GHU Paris Psychiatrie et Neurosciences
Université de Paris
Institut Psychiatrie et Neurosciences de Paris (INSERM U1266)
FRANCE