Alcorexia - psychosocial determinants of the eating disorder

Abstract

Although alcorexia has not yet been formally classified as a disease entity, it is a serious, complex health problem. Alcorexia belongs to behavioral eating disorders and consists in restricting the amount of food intake in order to increase the ability of drinking alcohol without fear of gaining weight. As far as so called traditional eating disorders are usually motivated by a latent desire to be lean and control your body, alcorexia appears to be motivated by the desire to drink large amounts of alcohol along with the desire to be slim. As the disorder is progressing, the situation may change, both in the direction of anorexia as well as addiction to alcohol. For the purposes of this article, I use the term "alcorexia," but it should be added that the term is used interchangeably with such terms as drunkorexia, alcoholic anorexia, or alcoholic bulimia.