Background: Patients who suffer from obesity and overweight have a higher risk of both mental and physical illness. People with obesity, especially who seek treatment, are reported to have eating and other psychiatric disorders. On the other hand, psychological factors or personality characteristics can influence obesity treatment. To our knowledge, a few studies have investigated this relationship in Egypt.

Aim: To understand psychopathology of obesity in order to improve its treatment outcome.

Patients and methods: This study was performed among patients seeking treatment for obesity either non-surgical treatment at the nutrition clinic or surgical treatment at bariatric surgery clinic. All subjects were assessed using Arabic versions of the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Axis I Disorders (SCID I), Eating Attitude Test (EAT-40) and Barratt Impulsiveness Scale (BIS-11) and sociodemographic data collection.

Results: 592 subjects were recruited and divided according to BMI. Eating disorders (EDs) were prevalent among 55.1% (n = 326) of the studied sample with binge eating disorder (BED) being the most prevalent (72.7%). Bulimia nervosa (BN) was significantly higher in the overweight group compared to the obese group (80% vs 20%) while BED was significantly higher in the obese group (67.5 % vs 32.5%). BED was significantly associated with impulsivity as 86.5% of patients with BED had high impulsivity. A positive correlation found between BMI and age, EAT-40 and BIS-11 scores.

Conclusion: Eating disorders were prevalent among obese and overweight patients seeking treatment and associated with higher degrees of impulsivity.