Eating Disorders in the Middle East: Iran

The objective of this chapter is to investigate eating disorders in Iran and the sociocultural factors which can affect the development and distribution of eating disorders. Despite Iran’s distinctive geographical location and the regulations that evidently affect one’s experience of their own body (such as hijabHijab, religion, and media), studies on eating disorders are scarce and do not cover the demographic variation spread across the country. Even so, based on the existing research literature, it seems that the prevalence of eating disorders in Iran is unexpectedly high. In some cases, it is higher than the reported figures by DSM-5 or synopsis of psychiatry, which underlines the importance of answering questions regarding who, why, and under what circumstances one is at risk of developing an eating disorder. In this chapter, a number of geographical and ethnic features of Iran are mentioned, and sociocultural components exclusive to Iranian society which are attributed to body and body image, that can potentially affect eating disorders, are discussed. Investigating the sociocultural factors associated with the body and body perception in a certain social stratum can be a great help to detect the susceptible individuals, especially because sufferers of eating disorders have a tendency to conceal their symptoms. However, in order to determine the powerful factors, along with the proportion of each factor’s presence in Iranian society, and to examine the incidence and prevalence of eating disorders on a large scale in different demographics, more studies should be conducted.