Psychiatric aspects of obesity

Abstract

As the prevalence of obesity continues to rise, mental health professionals will be increasingly called upon to treat obese individuals. Therefore, clinicians should have an understanding of the diagnosis of obesity and its comorbid conditions. Recent research has shown that obesity is, in large part, the product of genetic vulnerability mediated by an obesity-promoting environment. This suggests that biological rather than psychological models may be most helpful in understanding its onset and maintenance. However, in treatment-seeking patients, obesity has been found to be associated with other psychiatric disorders, most notably depression, suggesting that psychiatric comorbidity should be considered in evaluation and clinical management. Further, while obesity itself is not an eating disorder, a subset of obese individuals, including those with binge eating disorder (BED) and the night eating syndrome (NES) suffer from disordered eating. Psychiatrists can and should take an active role in treating comorbid or eating-related pathology and in helping obese patients make healthy lifestyle choices which lead to improved physical and psychological well-being.