I'm steering clear of this from now on, but I will clear up one thing:
Quote:
Originally Posted by Brandon
The link says that it should be classified as a medical condition. Just because it's not is a very weak argument. Back then, homosexuality was considered being possessed by the devil. So what? Things change. Obesity is a mental illness too, that's what the link is talking about. It's not just a physical problem, but a psychological problem as well. Just like anorexia! Only anorexia is classified as a mental illness and obesity is not.
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Obesity is a medical condition with a wide range of physical components and consequences, but it is not possessive of any criteria which make it a mental illness. In particular there is no evidence of being consistently associated with a psychological or behavoural syndrome - in short, it can often have physical symptoms only. It can be a symptom of certain mental illnesses such as binge eating disorder, but being a symptom of a mental illness and being a mental illness from the outset are very different things, and as such obesity was considered and rejected for DSM-V. I would recommend reading the following on this point: