Excessive Food Aversion, Compulsive Exercise and Decreased Height Gain Due to Fear of Obesity in a Prepubertal Girl

• Published in: Psychotherapy and psychosomatics 1994-01, Vol.62 (3/4), p.203-206
• Main Authors: Ohzeki, Takehiko, Tachikawa, Hiroshi, Tanimoto, Kaname, Hanaki, Keiichi, Motozumi, Hiroko, Ohtahara, Hiroko, Urashima, Hirofumi, Tsukuda, Toshinori, Shiraki, Kazuo
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Anorexia Nervosa - psychology; Biological and medical sciences; Body Height; Body Weight; Child; Child clinical studies; Clinical Note; Compulsive Behavior - psychology; Diet, Reducing - psychology; Eating behavior disorders; Exercise - psychology; Feeding Behavior; Female; Humans; Medical sciences; Obesity - diet therapy; Obesity - psychology; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychopathology. Psychiatry
• ISSN: 0033-3190; 1423-0348
• DOI: 10.1159/000288924

A case of a 7-year-old girl with a remarkable food aversion and excessive weight reduction caused by fear of obesity, which has been demonstrated in pubertal girls with symptoms partly similar to anorexia nervosa, is reported. Although the patient's weight was reduced to the upper limits of the normal range with diet and exercise, she reduced her food intake more strictly and did not at all eat food consisting of carbohydrates. Exercise was performed longer than before. Her weight continued to decrease and height velocity lowered from 6.0 to 4.1 cm/ year (mean ± SD of the age-matched normal girls: 5.5 ± 0.74 cm/year). Her eating behavior was normalized without specific psychotherapy for anorexia nervosa. It is suggested that food aversion with weight loss and decrease in height gain due to fear of obesity may occur in prepubertal children as well as in adolescent girls.