In our country there are more than 3 and a half million people who live with a feeding and eating disorder (DNA)such as anorexia, bulimia and binge eating disorder. The organization of services that deal with these patients is growing, but the centers are few and poorly distributed, as can be seen from the territorial mapping just released by the Istituto Superiore di Sanità (ISS). This will be one of the themes at the center of the national congress of the Italian Society of Eating Psychopathology (SIPA), a special section of the Italian Society of Psychiatry (Sip), which will be held in Udine on 17 and 18 October.
“In this congress, all forms of intervention will be discussed, largely psychotherapeutic and psychoeducational, but also pharmacological”, reports Matteo Balestrieri, president of the SIPA congress, co-president of the Italian Society of Neuro Psycho Pharmacology as well as professor of Psychiatry at the University of Udine.
“Furthermore, all the insights and knowledge we have on the characteristics of those who suffer from a nutrition and eating disorder will be exposed. Therefore – he continues – there will be a focus on bulimia, anorexia, but also on uncontrolled eating disorders and in the broad sense of obesity, which also has a psychological component, linked to psychic overeating”. The experts who will take part in the SIPA congress will testify to the importance of a multidisciplinary approach.
“There are various contributions necessary to intervene effectively on nutrition and eating disorders, which involve different professionals: psychiatrists, psychologists, professional educators, internal medicine specialists, nutritionists and dieticians”, explains Balestrieri. “DNA are disorders that present characteristics certainly linked to the psychological-psychiatric sphere, but they also have an important physical and nutritional component that must be monitored. The levels of intervention – he continues – are therefore different: they range from outpatient to semi-residential and daytime, with the possibility of short stays in day hospitals for monitoring the physical state and even hospitalizations. The role of residential facilities which allow for longer reception and which are distributed very unevenly across the national territory should also be remembered”. Furthermore, during the SIPA congress particular attention will be paid to prevention, early diagnosis and the importance of intervening promptly.
“In the field of DNA, as well as in many other fields of psychiatry and beyond, intervening early means shortening the duration of the disease and reducing the risk of it worsening”, underlines Balestrieri. “Letting time pass instead means worsening the prognosis and making subsequent interventions difficult”, he concludes.