Development of an assessment guide for a proposed eating disorder : orthorexia nervosa

Abstract

The term “orthorexia nervosa” is used to describe individuals whose restrictive dietary practices and mental preoccupation with healthy food consumption have led to both physical and mental deterioration. There is limited information available on the assessment of orthorexia which makes it difficult for mental health clinicians to assess whether their clients are potentially at-risk or suffering from orthorexia. The intent of this project was to create an assessment guide that can be used by mental health practitioners with the purpose of assessing whether a client is displaying behavioural and psychological characteristics that would put them at-risk for orthorexia. The guide is meant to serve as an assessment tool and is not meant to replace or make a diagnosis of a mental disorder. Using a three-stage decision tree model, the guide instructs practitioners to use clinical judgement and criterions to sequentially assess for client’s risk for orthorexia.