More in Psychology. Lasegue C. More recent research has advanced our knowledge and some of Dr. Purging appears limited to a context in which prevention of weight gain is culturally meaningful. However, several data seem to indicate that the new DSM-5 criteria determine mainly quantitative changes, and some issues related to the DSM categorization of eating disorders were not solved with the new edition. This definition is not particularly good, since it is based on misunderstandings.
New York: Macmillan; The prevalence and correlates of eating disorders in the National Comorbidity Survey Replication. It has been said that there was a transition from a pursuit of spiritual perfection to a pursuit of bodily perfection in sufferers with anorexia nervosa. Eat Behav. Saint Catherine of Siena was one of the most well-known of these women who would starve themselves for weeks or eat very little for months at a time. However, historical evidence shows eating disorders have been around for quite some time—albeit maybe in somewhat different forms. Anorexia Nervosa is more common today, than a century ago. Today, one has realized how serious the disease and its processes really are.
The psychopathology of eating disorders changed across time under the influence of environmental factors, determining the emergence of new phenotypes. Some of these conditions are still under investigation and are not clearly identified as independent diagnostic entities. In this review, the historic evolution of the eating disorder concept up to the recent Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition, has been evaluated. We also examined literature supporting the inclusion of new emergent eating behaviors within the eating disorder spectrum, and their relationship with anorexia, autism, and obsessive—compulsive disorder.