[Eating disorders in a historical perspective].

Disordered eating has been known since antiquity and is mentioned in medical journals as well as in popular literature. The holy anorectics in the Middle Ages wanted to achieve spiritual perfection, while the anorectics of today are seeking bodily perfection. Hilde Bruch and Mara Selvini Palazzoli were the first to focus on anorectic symptoms like leanness and body image disturbance. The breakthrough in clinical and scientific work on bulimia nervosa came around 1980, primarily due to Russell's achievements. In 1874, Sir William Gull was the first to use anorexia nervosa as a diagnosis, while bulimia nervosa was first used in 1979. In the history of Norwegian psychiatry, several psychiatric disorders were described at an early stage, yet eating disorders have only been discussed in the scientific literature from the 1980s and onwards. Eating disorders have now become a cause of concern on the part of health authorities; their policy is to improve clinical skills at all levels rather than to build up specialised clinics.