Korean J Psychopharmacol.
1997 Apr;8(1):3-22.
Biology and Pharmacotherapy in Eating Disorders
- Affiliations
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- 1Department of Psychiatry, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
Abstract
- Anorexia nervosa, bulimia and other related eating disorders are a heterogenous group of psychiatric disorders whose prevalence rates reach 0.5-1.0% for anorexia nervosa and 1.0-3.0% for bulinmia nervosa. Anorexia nervosa is characterized by a refusal to maintain a minimally normal body weight and bulimia is characterized by repeated episodes of binge eating, misuse of laxatives. diuretics or other medications ; fasting and excessive exercise. A disturbance in perception of body shape and weight is an essential feature of both disorders. Patients with eating disorders may have numerous medical, hypothalamic endocrine, metabolic and nutritional abnormalities. There have been several conceptual models to explain the etiology of eating disorders These are socio-cultural, family pathological, individual psychodynamic, developmental psychobiologiccl, primary hypothalamic dysfunctional, cognitive-behavioral and affective disorder theories. Among these thoeries, this paper attempts to review the biological theory and pharmacotherapy in eating disorders. Specifically, this review deals with physiology of eating behavior, neurotransmitter regulation of appetite and eating bvehavior, disturbances in brcin neurotransmitter system, neuroendocrine findings in anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa. and finally pharmacotherapy. Based on this review, future directions for research are also sutggested.
Keyword
MeSH Terms
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Anorexia Nervosa
Appetite
Biology*
Bulimia
Bulimia Nervosa
Disulfiram
Diuretics
Drug Therapy*
Feeding and Eating Disorders*
Eating*
Fasting
Feeding Behavior
Humans
Ideal Body Weight
Laxatives
Mood Disorders
Neurosecretory Systems
Neurotransmitter Agents
Physiology
Prevalence
Disulfiram
Diuretics
Laxatives
Neurotransmitter Agents
