Eating disorder as mental illness: Popular conceptions

Abstract

One hundred and fifty Health Centre attenders completed a questionnaire eliciting their views on which life problems should be regarded as mental illness. Their opinions were compared with those of 20 psychiatrists. The lay sample accurately perceived a symptom of anorexia nervosa as indicating treatable mental illness, whereas a symptom of obesity was not regarded as such. There was no evidence of age, sex, or social class differences in the responses.

Beliefs of the public concerning the helpfulness of interventions for bulimia nervosa

“…The importance placed on the role of GPs by respondents in the current study is consistent with findings from earlier surveys of public opinion (O'Grady & El-Sobky, 1987;Smith et al, 1986). There is also some evidence that when treatment is sought for BN and related disorders, the use of GPs is preferred to that of specialists (Hay, Marley, & Lemar, 1998).…”

“…Few studies have examined the views of the public concerning the treatment of eatingdisordered behavior. O'Grady and El-Sobky (1987) examined the beliefs of the public and those of psychiatrists concerning the diagnosis, treatability, and appropriate referral of a set of mental illness problems, which included the scenario ''weighing less than six stone (84 lb) and still dieting (for an adult).'' There was good agreement between psychiatrists and the public in recognizing the anorexic symptom as a psychiatric problem.…”

Public perceptions of binge eating and its treatment

“…3 Over the past two decades, the beliefs of the public concerning the nature and treatment of the eating disorders anorexia nervosa (AN) and bulimia nervosa (BN) have been examined in a number of studies. [4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16] Several findings of interest have emerged from this research. First, the public is gen-erally optimistic about the prognosis of individuals with eating disorders who receive treatment, but pessimistic about outcome in the absence of treatment.…”

Representations and beliefs about eating disorders in a sample of french adolescents

“…Although the notion of Eating Disorders (ED) is fairly well‐known, public knowledge and understanding of the specific psychopathology of Anorexia Nervosa (AN) and Bulimia Nervosa (BN) are somewhat limited. Available evidence in Anglo‐Saxon journals demonstrates that AN is largely associated with restricted diets, extreme thinness, and body image disturbance whereas binging, purging, and other compensatory behavior is associated with BN 1–5. In these studies, the participants believed ED manifest during adolescence or young adulthood in women.…”