Parc Taulí treats about 100 people with an eating disorder a year

Eating disorders (ED) are a group of mental disorders characterized by changes in the way you think, feel and behave in relation to food, weight or body image.

Parc Taulí has ​​treated 110 people with an eating disorder this year. This number has doubled after the pandemic due to the excessive exposure of children and adolescents to social networks, which continue to reify the female body.

Although it is a disorder that mostly affects young teenagers around 15 years old, there are more and more cases of patients aged 8 or 9 or people in adulthood, even 60 years old. The psychologist and specialist in TCA at the CSMIJ del Parc Taulí, Alfredo Aguilar, has assured that "eating disorders occur at all ages. They are more frequent disorders in women than in men and do not differentiate between adults or young people. But the problem is the taboo, which still exists in our society, and which surrounds people who suffer from it. This leads to rejection and denial when seeking specialist help, and when they do, it's too late and recovery is much slower".

This is why the professionals at Parc Taulí have insisted on the importance of prevention "promoting from a very young age healthy habits beyond the pyramid and explaining that there are no good or bad foods. And sport must be part of our lives, but with a playful purpose".

Early detection of TCA is also very important to guarantee a more positive evolution of the patient. And, at this point, complicity with primary care professionals, school centers and families has been highlighted to detect or report possible cases of risk in order to be able to carry out an assessment and rapid action of the behavioral disorder food

Parc Taulí Day Hospital for TCA

Last year, the new Day Hospital service for teenagers and young people with Eating Disorders came into operation at the Parc Taulí Child and Youth Mental Health Center.

This new device has improved the quality of care for patients with ED because they have received a much more specific intervention, with professionals from different profiles specialized in eating disorders, such as psychiatrists, psychologists, nurses specializing in mental health, nursing assistant technicians, teaching, occupational therapists and social work.

It has also improved the approach that professionals can take to carry out more individualized actions.