Abu Dhabi: There may not be many studies on how eating disorders affect residents in the UAE. But the prevalence of obesity in the country could indicate that a significant number of people are afflicted by serious psychological illnesses, mental health experts said in the capital today (Monday).“We know that obesity is a common lifestyle disease in the UAE. However, eating disorders could be at the core of a patient’s obesity, and these need to be treated as early as possible. Otherwise, the treatment of both obesity and the disorder could become very expensive, complicated or even ineffective,” warned Dr Veena Luthra, specialist psychiatrist at the American Centre for Psychiatry and Neurology (ACPN).

Unfortunately, most patients who are afflicted by eating disorders do not realise they have one.

“In the United States, about 25 per cent of people who are obese also have binge eating disorder. There is, however, low awareness in the region about eating disorders, and this extends to physicians and doctors, who fail to refer patients to psychologists even when the warning signs of such a disorder are present,” Dr Luthra said.

The ACPN, a private outpatient clinic based in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, has therefore launched a campaign to bring these diseases to the fore. The campaign will educate doctors and school nurses about the warning signs and risk factors of eating disorders, and also hopes to collect data on their prevalence.

“Starting from today (Monday), we will specifically ask patients with eating disorders to fill in questionnaires about their eating patterns and symptoms. Based on these, we hope to find out the complex reasons which interact to create eating disorders in patients here,” the psychiatrist said.

Currently, very little data explores the rate of eating disorders in the country.

A study conducted in 2010 by Zayed University found that among 228 female students who participated, around 25 per cent had possible eating disorders. In addition, about three-quarters of them were dissatisfied with their body image.

Meanwhile, among 2,581 UAE schoolchildren aged 13 to 15 who participated in the Global School-based Student Health Survey in 2010, about 4.1 per cent were underweight, 38.4 per cent overweight and 14.4 per cent obese.

“More than 50 per cent of the patients I currently treat with eating disorders are adults. This could mean that people do not yet focus on treating these illnesses in young children. What they need to know is that the rate of recovery is much better if the illnesses are dealt with early,” Dr Luthra said.

Explaining the types of conditions that could occur, the psychiatrist said that binge eating disorder is likely to be most common among residents in the UAE.

“People afflicted with this disorder consume large amounts of food every day. They may also eat irregularly, such as not eating all day and then binge eating at night. Unfortunately, patients are not usually aware that they have a problem and may end up becoming obese,” she said.

Other eating-related conditions that are common worldwide are anorexia nervosa, in which the patient eats an insufficient amount of food and has a negative body image, and bulimia nervosa, in which the patient binge eats and then compensates for feelings of guilt by throwing up all the food or using laxatives.

Dr Katie Russell, a clinical psychologist based in the capital, said the most effective form of therapy for eating disorders was cognitive behaviour therapy.

“This trains a patient to become more aware of their thoughts and behaviours, and then to modify thoughts in a way that will be positive and functional to their lives,” she added.