Psychosomatics in Eating Disorders.

Background: To study the psychosomatic options and dynamics in patients with eating disorders. To conduct a comparative study of psychosomatic characteristics of surveyed patients with eating disorders, taking into account the duration and severity of protein-energy deficiency and levels of catecholamines excretion; to reveal features of mental working capacity, basic mental processes and EEG data at different stages of eating disorders; to develop scientifically based effective methods and means for correcting pathological changes that have arisen as a result of prolonged protein-energy deficiency in eating disorders.

Methods: Catamnestic, statistical, clinico-psychopathological with somatic, psychological and laboratory examination, anthropometry, high-performance liquid chromatography, electroencephalography. Statistical analysis of collected data was processed using the program IBM SPSS Statistics 22, the confidence level p-value is ≤0.001.

Results: The long-term consequences of prolonged fasting in 500 women with eating disorders (ED), who applied for help at the RUDN department and were examined in 1987-2013, were studied. The most common somatic complications of prolonged protein-energy deficiency were investigated. In addition to the clinical method and anthropometry, to measure the efficiency of weight gain after prolonged alimentary deficiencies and to treat anorexia nervosa patients the pathopsychological method of "Shabalina's complex decoding" and analysis of catecholamine excretion rates in urine of patients with anorexia at different stages of therapy were used. Improvement of mental performance and general condition of the examined after applying the developed treatment was observed. Scientifically based principles of therapy, allowing to avoid complications of long-term fasting and during weight gain were suggested.