Classification and Diagnosis: A Historical Perspective

Eating disorders and obesity refer to phenomena in which the amount of food consumed or the resulting body weight is considered pathological. Changing cultural norms and medical schools of thought are reflected in historically altered dietary patterns and changed diagnoses. A critical historiography suggests a lowering of the body weight considered pathological in the 19th and 20th centuries, as well as the emergence of anorexia nervosa in the mid-19th century and bulimia nervosa at the beginning of the 20th century in Europe.