What is Prader Willi Syndrome or PWS?Prader Willi Syndrome, also known as PWS, is not an actual eating disorder. I have included it as one of those different eating disorders because it does include an excessive eating component. PWS is a genetic disease characterized by excessive eating or hyperphagia - as if the person's appetite can never be satisfied. This is a rare genetic condition where 7 genes on chromosome 15 are either missing or some portion of them are missing. These deleted chromosomes come from the father's DNA. There is a similar syndrome called Angelman Syndrome where genes from the mother and the father are deleted.
You will typically see developmental disabilities, hypogonadism, decreased muscle tone, dwarfism or short stature, among others. You can see a more complete list of signs and symptoms of eating disorders in that section.
This is a genetic disease. Compulsive overeating and binge eating are eating disorders that do not involve a genetic abnormality.
People with Prader Willi Syndrome are sweet, loving people. They have few behavioral problems aside from some difficulty regulating their behavior. Much like those on the autism spectrum, when change is introduced suddenly, they have issues adapting. Go from Prader Willi Syndrome back to Types of Eating Disorders
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