Orthorexia Nervosa. Current Understanding and Perspectives

Whilst many people try to make healthy food choices to improve their health, for others the focus on healthy eating can become obsessive and lead to maladaptive eating behaviours and poorer health. Orthorexia nervosa is a preoccupation with the quality of healthy food, where a refusal of certain foods is driven by the desire to be healthy. Orthorexia Nervosa: Current Understanding and Perspectives is the first clinical book that systematically explores this condition. The book contains in-depth information, with chapters highlighting diagnostic criteria, assessment, prevalence, multidimensional characteristics, future directions and treatment. Additional expert commentary delivers valuable insights to further provide readers with a better understanding of this condition. This informative and engaging book is a valuable resource for academics, researchers, health professionals and students interested in eating behaviour. It is an essential read for anyone wanting a better understanding of orthorexia nervosa and its impact on individuals’ health.

• Gain a comprehensive understanding of orthorexia nervosa with this engaging and informative book, which fills a much-needed gap in the literature
• This book uses a holistic approach, drawing on both community-based and clinical samples to provide an insight into orthorexia nervosa by characterising, differentiating, and comparing various aspects of this condition
• Discover new insights into orthorexia nervosa, as this book systematically explores its largely unknown features and characteristics. This knowledge will empower readers to combat the confusion surrounding this phenomenon which has been observed online

CONTENTS

Foreword
Preface
Acknowledgements
About the Author
Part I. Dieting Trends and Health:
1. Healthy and sustainable diet
2. Health behaviours and healthy eating interventions
Highlights
Part II. Clinical Description of Orthorexia Nervosa:
3. Definition of orthorexia nervosa
4. Diagnostic overview of orthorexia nervosa
5. Orthorexia nervosa and other disorders: differential diagnosis
Highlights
Part III. Assessment and Prevalence of Orthorexia Nervosa:
6. Research methods in orthorexia nervosa
7. Prevalence of orthorexia nervosa
Highlights
Part IV. Multidimensional Characteristics of Orthorexia Nervosa:
8. Psychological characteristics of orthorexia nervosa
9. Nutritional characteristics of orthorexia nervosa
10. Potential social risk factor of orthorexia nervosa: social media use
Highlights
Part V. Two Decades of Research on Orthorexia Nervosa:
11. Orthorexia nervosa research in western societies
12. Research on orthorexia nervosa in non-western societies using the example of East Asian countries
Highlights
Part VI. Future Directions on Orthorexia Nervosa:
13. Orthorexia nervosa: what do we know and what should we do?
References
Index.