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Obesity and Its Relationship to Addictions: Is Overeating a Form of Addictive Behavior?
Author(s) -
Barry Danielle,
Clarke Megan,
Petry Nancy M.
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
the american journal on addictions
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.997
H-Index - 76
eISSN - 1521-0391
pISSN - 1055-0496
DOI - 10.3109/10550490903205579
Subject(s) - overeating , addiction , addictive behavior , obesity , psychology , food addiction , personality , psychiatry , clinical psychology , medicine , social psychology
Obesity is a major public health problem and notoriously difficult to treat. There are many parallels between obesity/overeating and addictions to alcohol and drugs. This paper discusses similarities between obesity and addictive disorders, including common personality characteristics, disruptive behavior syndromes, and brain mechanisms. Although there are important differences between overeating and other addictive behaviors, an addiction model of overeating may effectively inform prevention and treatment of obesity