No Thinspiration

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Many women may fail to recognize bulimia symptoms in themselves, particularly if they don’t go to the extremes of self-induced vomiting, new research suggests.

In a study of 158 women with bulimia-type eating disorders, Australian researchers found that nearly half did not acknowledge a problem with their eating. This was particularly true of those who did not vomit to control their weight.

Bulimia is widely known as a “binge-purge” eating disorder, in which a person goes through cycles of excessive eating followed by purging – through either vomiting or abusing laxatives and diuretics.

But there are also non-purging forms of bulimia, where tactics like excessive exercise or strict dieting are used to counter binge-eating episodes.

Still other people have certain symptoms of bulimia but fall short of all the criteria used to diagnose the disorder; they may fall into the category of “eating disorder not otherwise specified,” or EDNOS.

The new study, published in the International Journal of Eating Disorders, focused on women with “bulimic-type” eating disorders. This included those with purging or non-purging bulimia, as well as women with EDNOS. Some women in the latter group were diagnosed with binge-eating disorder, which involves excessive eating but no purging to compensate]
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Binge eating disorder is a psychiatric disorder in which a subject:

* periodically does not exercise control over consumption of food
* eats an unusually large amount of food at one time
* eats much more quickly during binge episodes than during normal eating episodes
* eats until physically uncomfortable
* eats large amounts of food, even when they are not really hungry
* always eats alone during binge eating episodes, in order to avoid discovery of the disorder
* often eats alone during periods of normal eating, owing to feelings of embarrassment about food
* feels disgusted, depressed, or guilty after binge eating

Binge eating is an element of another eating disorder, bulimia nervosa. The formal diagnosis criteria are similar: at least two binges per week for an extended period of time.[1] In bulimia, however, episodes of binge eating are followed by purging, periods of fasting, or performance of strenuous exercise - indeed, “exercise bulimia,” in which a person eats normally but then engages in strenuous exercise, is an inverse form of bulimia. People with binge eating disorder, by contrast, do not purge, fast or engage in strenuous exercise after binge eating. Additionally, people with bulimia are typically of normal weight or may be slightly overweight (the purging, etc., have little to no effect on the subject’s body fat), whereas people with binge eating disorder are typically overweight or obese.

Binge eating disorder is similar to, but it is distinct from, compulsive eating. People with binge eating disorder do not have a compulsion to overeat and do not spend a great deal of time fantasising about food. On the contrary, some people with binge eating disorder have very negative feelings about food. As with other eating disorders, binge eating is an expressive disorder - that is, the disorder is an expression of a deeper, psychological problem.

It is actually hotly contested whether binge eating disorder has its own diagnosis. Some believe that it is a milder form, or subset of bulimia nervosa, but others argue that it is its own distinct disorder. Currently, the DSM-IV categorizes it under Eating disorder not otherwise specified (EDNOS), simply stating that more research is needed.

Via: Wikipedia