A study by Swedish researchers at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm found that women with anorexia nervosa and neuropathic patients were more likely to commit crimes such as theft and others, four times more likely than women who did not.
"Anorexia nervosa" is a mental illness that results in an eating disorder. The patient suffers from lack of appetite and suffers from a weighty fear of weight gain. People with the disease are known to control their weight by voluntarily starving themselves, exercising too much, or other weight control methods such as taking diuretics. Anorexia nervosa is also an eating disorder, but it is caused by excessive and compulsive eating. The patient consumes large quantities of food in a very short period of time and loses the ability to stop eating until he feels stomach pains and a feeling of nausea. Shyness, self-denial or disgust. "
The study involved 957,107 Swedish women, born between 1979 and 1998, including 410,626 sisters. Sweden's official records on health and crime were used to identify women who started eating disorders at the age of 15. Their behaviors were followed over the past 20 years And to monitor the cases of those convicted of crimes during that period.
Danger bell
The results showed that "11,000 women were diagnosed with anorexia nervosa, 5 000 cases of schizophrenia, 12% of women with anorexia were convicted of theft until age 35, 7% were convicted of other crimes, 18% were robbed, 13% were other crimes, and convictions for women without nutrition disorders were limited to 5% for theft crimes and 6% for other crimes. "
According to the researchers in the study published in the journal International Journal of Eating Disorder, "doctors should pay attention to the risk of criminal tendencies in women who have eating disorders that may lead to deviation and increase the likelihood of being convicted of theft; The reluctance of women to eat or their appetite to take them to the increasing pressure on them and their anxiety, which leads to crime and hinders attempts to treatment.
Simple crimes
The study focused on the first-time robbery, which is defined in the Swedish Penal Code in Chapter VIII, ranging from simple theft to theft, theft of vehicles, illegal seizure of property and other crimes. The "simple theft" was the most common among women with anorexia nervosa , Compared to those who do not suffer from these disorders.
"The percentage of women with anorexia nervosa was 11.6 percent, compared to 5.04 percent who did not suffer from anorexia, while 17.97 percent had anorexia nervosa compared with 5.07 percent without."
The incidence of anorexia of crimes other than theft was 7.39%, compared with 13.17% for the women with the disease, while those rates decreased to 6.24% and 6.23% for women who did not suffer from anorexia nervosa, respectively.
The study also found that the incidence of theft and other crimes among sisters who suffer from nutritional disorders compared to their sisters who do not suffer from these disorders, noting that "the impact of common genetic factors was low compared to the impact of nutrition disorders."
Weaknesses
The authors of the study acknowledge themselves that some of the limitations of the study have been found and prevented their comprehensiveness, including that "it was based on the records of the Swedish Ministry of Health to identify patients with anorexia nervosa, which means that the study only monitored the cases of women who sought treatment, Other cases fell because they were not registered in the records of the Ministry of Health, and another limitation is that many criminal behavior in Sweden is not documented and reported, which means that there are individuals who are outlaws who may not be charged or convicted, Which negatively affected the count Criminal consequences of the study ".
"The study is based on the records of the Swedish Ministry of Health to find out how many people have anorexia nervosa," says Dr. Raf Kuga, one of the researchers involved in the study. "We do not know specifically whether the results of this study could apply to communities Other than Swedish society or not. "
"We could not measure the effects of food disorders on men and young people because of the low levels of their nutritional disorders compared to women and girls," Kuja said. "We can not, We know whether it affects men and women one or not. "
Not convincing
"The results of the Swedish study are unconvincing and can not be universally disseminated," said Mustapha Sweilem, a professor of nutrition at Ain Shams University.
"Malnutrition brings people to emotional disorders based on the psychological and emotional nature of each individual. There are people who are angry when they refrain from eating and vice versa. Emotional emotion leads to malnutrition and vice versa, but the stress caused by malnutrition has never reached The limit of theft. "
In the same context, Magdy Ibrahim Hussein - Professor of Psychiatry at Ain Shams University - pointed out that "the results of the Swedish study can not be generalized and applied to Egyptian society, for example; because of the different customs, traditions and social conditions between Egypt and Sweden, Swedish women are very careful to weigh, Can commit suicide because of its inability to lose weight, which can not be generalized to any other society. "
Although there is no official statistics on the number of people suffering from anorexia in Egypt, Hussein says that "their proportion in Egypt is estimated at 2%, and between the ages of 15 and 25 years, and most of them work in the field of fashion or who exercise professionally," adding: "No "We can link food disorders, either by turning to him or not with women stealing," while the incidence of "neurodegenerative disease" in the Arab world ranges from 8 to 15 percent.