The social aspects are also off course crucial. I'm lucky enough to live in a country with a social safety net that's stronger than what you have in the US (the

The social aspects are also off course crucial. I'm lucky enough to live in a country with a social safety net that's stronger than what you have in the US (there are still homeless folks, but psychiatric care is free in France). Still, I'm well aware that mental care is a luxury. Psychoanalysis is still very potent here though. The mothers of autistic and schizophrenic people were, for decades, vilified as responsible for the problems of their children. A friend of mine who was anorexic for years had to endure cruel and demeaning treatments (based on Freudian BS). As she said: "As if it were funny to lose all those kilos :-/". It's recently been found that, at least in some cases, anorexia is the result of auto-antibodies that stimulate the melanocortin receptor in the brain (the main satiety hormone). Those antibodies occur due to a cross-reaction with a protein secreted by E. Coli (CLPB). Bulimia and binge eating can have the same pathophysiology (where the antibodies block the receptor instead of activating it). Yet my friend was treated as if she was making it up, "to ultimately affirm herself".