Eating Disorders

An eating disorder is a mental disorder defined by abnormal eating behaviors that negatively affect a person's physical or mental health. Only one eating disorder can be diagnosed at a given time. Types of eating disorders include binge eating disorder, where the patient eats a large amount in a short period of time; anorexia nervosa, where the person has an intense fear of gaining weight and restricts food or overexercises to manage this fear; bulimia nervosa, where individuals eat a large quantity (binging) then try to rid themselves of the food (purging); pica, where the patient eats non-food items; rumination syndrome, where the patient regurgitates undigested or minimally digested food; avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID), where people have a reduced or selective food intake due to some psychological reasons (see below); and a group of other specified feeding or eating disorders. Anxiety disorders, depression and substance abuse are common among people with eating disorders. These disorders do not include obesity. People often experience comorbidity between an eating disorder and OCD. It is estimated 20-60% of patients with an ED have a history of OCD.

The causes of eating disorders are not clear, although both biological and environmental factors appear to play a role. Cultural idealization of thinness is believed to contribute to some eating disorders. Individuals who have experienced sexual abuse are also more likely to develop eating disorders. Some disorders such as pica and rumination disorder occur more often in people with intellectual disabilities.

Treatment can be effective for many eating disorders. Treatment varies by disorder and may involve counseling, dietary advice, reducing excessive exercise, and the reduction of efforts to eliminate food. Medications may be used to help with some of the associated symptoms. Hospitalization may be needed in more serious cases. About 70% of people with anorexia and 50% of people with bulimia recover within five years. Only 10% of people with eating disorders receive treatment, and of those, approximately 80% do not receive the proper care. Many are sent home weeks earlier than the recommended stay and are not provided with the necessary treatment. Recovery from binge eating disorder is less clear and estimated at 20% to 60%. Both anorexia and bulimia increase the risk of death. When people experience comorbidity with an eating disorder and OCD, certain aspects of treatment can be negatively impacted. OCD can make it harder to recover from obsession over weight and shape, body dissatisfaction, and body checking. This is in part because ED cognitions serve a similar purpose to OCD obsessions and compulsions (e.g., safety behaviors as temporary relief from anxiety). Research shows OCD does not have an impact on the BMI of patients during treatment.

Estimates of the prevalence of eating disorders vary widely, reflecting differences in gender, age, and culture as well as methods used for diagnosis and measurement.
In the developed world, anorexia affects about 0.4% and bulimia affects about 1.3% of young women in a given year. Binge eating disorder affects about 1.6% of women and 0.8% of men in a given year. According to one analysis, the percent of women who will have anorexia at some point in their lives may be up to 4%, or up to 2% for bulimia and binge eating disorders. Rates of eating disorders appear to be lower in less developed countries. Anorexia and bulimia occur nearly ten times more often in females than males. The typical onset of eating disorders is in late childhood to early adulthood. Rates of other eating disorders are not clear.

Classification

ICD and DSM diagnoses

These eating disorders are specified as mental disorders in standard medical manuals, including the ICD-10 and the DSM-5.
* Anorexia nervosa (AN) is the restriction of energy intake relative to requirements, leading to significantly low body weight in the context of age, sex, developmental trajectory, and physical health. It is accompanied by an intense fear of gaining weight or becoming fat, as well as a disturbance in the way one experiences and appraises their body weight or shape. There are two subtypes of AN: the restricting type, and the binge-eating/purging type. The restricting type describes presentations in which weight loss is attained through dieting, fasting, and/or excessive exercise, with an absence of binge/purge behaviors. The binge-eating/purging type describes presentations in which the individual with the condition has engaged in recurrent episodes of binge-eating and purging behavior, such as self-induced vomiting, misuse of laxatives, and diuretics. The severity of AN is determined by BMI, with BMIs below 15 noted as the most extreme cases of the disorder. Pubertal and post-pubertal females with anorexia often experience amenorrhea, or the loss of menstrual periods, due to the extreme weight loss these individuals face. Although amenorrhea was a required criterion for a diagnosis of anorexia in the DSM-IV, it was dropped in the DSM-5 due to its exclusive nature, as male, post-menopause women, or individuals who do not menstruate for other reasons would fail to meet this criterion. Females with bulimia may also experience amenorrhea, although the cause is not clear.
* Bulimia nervosa (BN) is characterized by recurrent binge eating followed by compensatory behaviors such as purging (self-induced vomiting, eating to the point of vomiting, excessive use of laxatives/diuretics, or excessive exercise). Fasting may also be used as a method of purging following a binge. However, unlike anorexia nervosa, body weight is maintained at or above a minimally normal level. Severity of BN is determined by the number of episodes of inappropriate compensatory behaviors per week.
* Binge eating disorder (BED) is characterized by recurrent episodes of binge eating without use of inappropriate compensatory behaviors that are present in BN and AN binge-eating/purging subtype. Binge eating episodes are associated with eating much more rapidly than normal, eating until feeling uncomfortably full, eating large amounts of food when not feeling physically hungry, eating alone because of feeling embarrassed by how much one is eating, and/or feeling disgusted with oneself, depressed or very guilty after eating. For a BED diagnosis to be given, marked distress regarding binge eating must be present, and the binge eating must occur an average of once a week for 3 months. Severity of BED is determined by the number of binge eating episodes per week.
* Pica is the persistent eating of nonnutritive, nonfood substances in a way that is not developmentally appropriate or culturally supported. Although substances consumed vary with age and availability, paper, soap, hair, chalk, paint, and clay are among the most commonly consumed in those with a pica diagnosis. There are multiple causes for the onset of pica, including iron-deficiency anemia, malnutrition, and pregnancy, and pica often occurs in tandem with other mental health disorders associated with impaired function, such as intellectual disability, autism spectrum disorder, and schizophrenia. In order for a diagnosis of pica to be warranted, behaviors must last for at least one month.
* Rumination disorder encompasses the repeated regurgitation of food, which may be re-chewed, re-swallowed, or spit out. For this diagnosis to be warranted, behaviors must persist for at least one month, and regurgitation of food cannot be attributed to another medical condition. Additionally, rumination disorder is distinct from AN, BN, BED, and ARFID, and thus cannot occur during the course of one of these illnesses.
* Avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID) is a feeding or eating disturbance, such as a lack of interest in eating food, avoidance based on sensory characteristics of food, or concern about aversive consequences of eating, that prevents one from meeting nutritional energy needs. It is frequently associated with weight loss, nutritional deficiency, or failure to meet growth trajectories. Notably, ARFID is distinguishable from AN and BN in that there is no evidence of a disturbance in the way in which one's body weight or shape is experienced. The disorder is not better explained by lack of available food, cultural practices, a concurrent medical condition, or another mental disorder.
* Other Specified Feeding or Eating Disorder (OSFED) is an eating or feeding disorder that does not meet full DSM-5 criteria for AN, BN, or BED. Examples of otherwise-specified eating disorders include individuals with atypical anorexia nervosa, who meet all criteria for AN except being underweight despite substantial weight loss; atypical bulimia nervosa, who meet all criteria for BN except that bulimic behaviors are less frequent or have not been ongoing for long enough; purging disorder; and night eating syndrome.
* Unspecified Feeding or Eating Disorder (USFED) describes feeding or eating disturbances that cause marked distress and impairment in important areas of functioning but that do not meet the full criteria for any of the other diagnoses. The specific reason the presentation does not meet criteria for a specified disorder is not given. For example, an USFED diagnosis may be given when there is insufficient information to make a more specific diagnosis, such as in an emergency room setting.

Other

* Compulsive overeating, which may include habitual "grazing" of food or episodes of binge eating without feelings of guilt.
* Diabulimia, which is characterized by the deliberate manipulation of insulin levels by diabetics in an effort to control their weight.
* Drunkorexia, which is commonly characterized by purposely restricting food intake in order to reserve food calories for alcoholic calories, exercising excessively in order to burn calories from drinking, and over-drinking alcohol in order to purge previously consumed food.
* Food maintenance, which is characterized by a set of aberrant eating behaviors of children in foster care.
* Night eating syndrome, which is characterized by nocturnal hyperphagia (consumption of 25% or more of the total daily calories after the evening meal) with nocturnal ingestions, insomnia, loss of morning appetite and depression.
* Nocturnal sleep-related eating disorder, which is a parasomnia characterized by eating, habitually out-of-control, while in a state of NREM sleep, with no memory of this the next morning.
* Gourmand syndrome, a rare condition occurring after damage to the frontal lobe. Individuals develop an obsessive focus on fine foods.
* Orthorexia nervosa, a term used by Steven Bratman to describie an obsession with a "pure" diet, in which a person develops an obsession with avoiding unhealthy foods to the point where it interferes with the person's life.
* Klüver-Bucy syndrome, caused by bilateral lesions of the medial temporal lobe, includes compulsive eating, hypersexuality, hyperorality, visual agnosia, and docility.
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