[Bulimia Nervosa].

Abstract

In our society a huge tension is caused by three types of contradictory messages in relation to our body structure: medical message, aesthetic message and gastronomic message. The abundance of food, some very attractive, together with the social "order" of having to be slim to be accepted, originates very complicated internal situations that lead predisposed people to develop an eating disorder. In concrete, bulimia nervosa is a disorder nobody spoke about three decades ago, and there are only some detailed references about it in the last 80 years. In 1979, Rusell coined the name of bulimia nervosa and considered it as a variation of the anorexia. From the 80s on, it has been noticed how the incidence of the bulimia nervosa has increased, with an important quantitative variability, being a reason for concern among health professionals and our society in general, and for the families who suffer its consequences in particular. Not likely to be a new disorder, since the references to excesses with food and to vomiting are so old that they cannot be traced in time. The origin of this disorder is multifactorial and although personality factors and environmental elements are implied, it is also true that there is a genetic predisposition that is not still well known. The individuals with bulimia nervosa show a wide range of functional limitations that are linked to the disorder, being the social field the one which can probably be affected more negatively. For all this, nowadays the deployment of resources and efforts has been increased by the health authorities, in order to implement therapeutic procedures, to boost ways of prevention and to reinforce the rehabilitation of all the aspects implied in the disorder.