In the U.S. and abroad, the failure of insurers and other gatekeepers to treatment to consistently recognize eating disorders as serious mental illnesses has resulted in an ongoing heath care crisis for sufferers and their families.
In response to growing concern about this crisis, the Academy for Eating Disorders (AED) has released a position paper in the March issue of its scientific journal explaining the scientific rationale for identifying eating disorders as serious mental illnesses.
"Recent research on eating disorders supports the proposition that these are serious mental disorders with significant morbidity and mortality," says Dr. Tom Insel, director of the National Institute of Mental Health. "Based on genetic and neuroimaging studies, eating disorders appear to have a biological basis, analogous to what is observed in other serious mental disorders such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and addictive diseases. All of these illnesses, including eating disorders, need to be addressed as biomedical as well as behavioral problems if we are to help people recover."
In summary, eating disorders are biologically-based, serious mental illnesses because: