By the age of 18, a third of adolescents who have had psychotic experiences by the age of 13 report eating disorders, according to a new study.
Following the publication of three studies on the question, researchers decided to study the possible association between psychotic experiences and eating disorders in adolescents. Among psychiatric disorders, psychotic illnesses are defined as mental illnesses characterized by the presence of delusions and / or hallucinations.
The psychotic patient is unaware of his personality disorders. They understand schizophrenia, manic-depressive illness and chronic hallucinatory psychosis. Excessive ingestion of food (bulimia, binge eating) or, conversely, excessive weight loss exercises (fasting, anorexia).
The behavior of 6,361 children studied
“The aim of this study was to explore the association between psychotic experiences at the age of 13, disordered eating behaviors and the body mass index (BMI) at the age of 18”, specifies the ‘essay, published in The Lancet. The cohort consisted of 6,361 children, of which 734 (12%) reported psychotic experiences at the age of 13. Their mental state, BMI and eating habits were assessed for the first time at age 13, and a second time at age 18. “Our results indicate that psychotic experiences are markers of an increased risk for several eating disorders in late adolescence,” the researchers write, although “more research on common risk factors for them. Psychotic experiences and eating disorders are warranted to elucidate common and specific causal pathways.
By age 18, one-third of adolescents who had psychotic experiences by the age of 13 reported eating disorders. Compared to those who had not had psychotic experiences, children who had had were 1 to 5 times more likely to report an eating disorder in late adolescence.
Median prevalence of psychotic experiences
Originally, scientists used data from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC), a cohort based in Avon (England, UK). All mothers in this region with an expected due date between April 1, 1991 and December 31, 1992 were invited to participate in the experiment. 14,541 pregnant women were finally recruited, giving birth to 13,988 babies. Since then, medical information on mothers and their children has been collected through clinical visits and questionnaires.
The median prevalence of psychotic experiences in late childhood and early adolescence (9-12 years) is 17%, decreasing to 7-5% in late adolescence and reaching a prevalence of about 5% in adulthood. In addition to eating disorders, a growing number of studies have shown that they are associated with a range of psychopathologies, such as mood disorders, substance use, post-traumatic stress and suicide attempts.
5 to 6% of the French population would be affected by TCA
Little known, eating disorders (ADD) are too often poorly detected. According to statistics, 5 to 6% of the French population is affected by TCA. In practice, the figures are much more alarming. Recent studies estimate these disorders at 20% (with a higher frequency in students: 22%). Several tens of thousands of people are therefore affected.
Most often, eating disorders are associated with notions of anorexia nervosa or bulimia. In reality, the forms of TCA are more varied:anorexia nervosa affects only 10% of TCA. It is an over-control of weight and diet that leads to weight loss, often with associated anxieties (fear of getting fat, vomiting, choking, eating toxic, unhealthy food or without traceability. .).
Bulimia (30% of TCA) is similar to a loss of control of its diet characterized by compulsions. The fear of gaining weight then encourages successive regimes, the use of laxatives or diuretics, induced vomiting or fasting (associated anorexic and bulimic symptoms may also occur).
Overeating (or BED: binge eating disorder) affects 10% of TCA and consists of bulimic fits but which are not compensated (no inappropriate behavior aimed at limiting weight gain). It is estimated that 70% of obesity is linked to binge eating.
Ingestion of non-digestible substances such as earth, chalk, paper …
EDNOS (eating disorder not otherwise specified) are the most frequently observed disorders and affect 50% of TCA. These are the “unclassifiable”, atypical disorders, of mixed form, which do not present all the symptoms of anorexia or bulimia, but diffuse symptoms.
Finally, and much more rarely, certain TCA of particular form are expressed: orthorexia (extreme need for a healthy and planned diet), pica (ingestion of non-digestible substances such as earth, chalk, paper. ..), merycism (regurgitation and remastication of food) or food phobias (to sit at the table, to eat food of a certain color or a certain shape).
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