The matter is serious!

The challenge to define and measure the impact of eating disorders (EDs), weight, thinness and obesity, body dysmorphia, is yet to be overcome and, worse, in many cases, to be addressed. Whether due to barriers in accessing interdisciplinary teams with the necessary spectrum of knowledge and skills, or due to concealment, denial of existence and/or non-acceptance of treatment. There is also another dimension that can be decisive for the capacity to respond to this problem and has to do with the benefits of knowing the angles of intervention by other professionals. The matter is serious and to increase the chances of success there is a necessity for team intervention.

EDs are many and complex, the most common being Anorexia Nervosa, Bulimia Nervosa and Binge eating disorder. In the Advanced Course in Eating Disorders, we will explain and discuss in an integrated way from the perspectives of the nutritionist, child psychiatrist and psychologist, the matter as an epidemiology, its diagnostic criteria, treatment options and present clinical cases of the most frequent and severe eating disorders. The prevalence is significantly higher in females and adolescents. However, it also affects the male gender. As an example, 1 in 4 cases of anorexia in pre-adolescents is male. It is therefore important to remember that we find people with EDs in all socioeconomic and age groups.

Given the complexity and well-documented incidence in the physical, socio-affective and mental domains of eating disorders in people, therapy goes far beyond food and nutritional intervention. It is necessary to materialize the therapeutic approach, from the outset in the therapeutic relation and in the integration of different therapies that nutritionists, psychiatrists and psychologists, alone and only as a whole, are able to promote. Treatment is difficult, and the chronicity of eating disorders is frequent, as are medical, physical, emotional and mental comorbidities. In many cases, in the history of EDs, there are people who develop irreversible complications and/or who later suffer serious repercussions on their health condition.

From the selection of the runway, to the pressures of social media and the intercurrences, perhaps, triggered by SARS-COV-2, we have seen an increase in eating disorders. The matter is serious and urgent in the fields of training, information and the establishment of networks between professionals capable of attending, caring and providing treatment as a team!

The Advanced Course in Eating Disorders has the main purposes of impacting health professionals, contributing and enabling them to develop a higher level of knowledge and skills, promoting the aggregation of professionals to respond to people with EDs and promoting the intervention in harmony of concepts, with safety and effectiveness.

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