Obesity and associated eating disorders: A guide for mental health professionals

摘要

The epidemic of obesity is well known to readers of this issue, as it is to just about anyone who reads a newspaper, watches television, or scrolls the Internet. Most recent data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2007-2008) indicate that 34% of US adults are obese, as defined by a body mass index (BMI) of 30 kg/m2 or greater. An additional 34% are overweight, characterized by a BMI of 25.0 to 29.9 kg/m2. Perhaps the most encouraging news from the recent survey is that the prevalence of obesity and overweight appears to have stopped increasing. However, there is still cause for great concern. Obesity contributes to hundreds of thousands of deaths per year, through its association with cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, several cancers, and other conditions. The physical and emotional consequences of obesity, for those afflicted, are accompanied by direct and indirect costs to our nation of more than dollar100 billion a year.