Binge Eating Disorder

The Official Diagnosis Is Eating Disorder NOS
(Not Otherwise Specified)

At this time, Binge Eating Disorder is not an officially-named diagnosis, but it is proposed as a new diagnosis for the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. As it stands, the proposed criteria for Binge Eating Disorder is as follows… Binge Eating Disorder is an eating disorder characterized by recurrent episodes of binge eating, associated with feelings of loss of control over and significant distress about binge eating. Often food is eaten rapidly and to the point where a person feels uncomfortably full. Often the binge eating is done when the person is alone. A person with binge eating disorder often feels disgusted with him or herself after a binge eating episode. Despite the significant distress caused by the behaviors, they don’t feel able to stop the bingeing.

With Binge Eating Disorder there is no regular use of inappropriate behaviors to try to prevent weight gain or to compensate for the amount of food eaten. (No behaviors such as self-induced vomiting, laxative abuse, excessive exercise or fasting.)

Often there is clinical depression present. Mental health professionals often see impulse control and obsessive-compulsive problems as well.

Medical complications associated with binge eating may be digestion and/or obesity related. Those may include problems with high blood pressure, diabetes, breathing, the gallbladder, the pancreas, the heart, circulation, skin ruptures and joints.

What Percentage of People Who are Treated for “Obesity” Actually Have a Binge Eating Disorder?

Further study is needed, but it’s estimated that at least 25% of those who seek treatment for obesity have significant problems with recurrent binge eating and may have a Binge Eating Disorder. It appears to be an equal opportunity disorder, affecting men and women of all ages and ethnic backgrounds..One study suggests that for every five women who have a binge eating disorder there is one man who is suffering as well. With anorexia and bulimia the ratio is about 8 or 9 women to every one man. (Some say that those numbers are a bit skewed by the fact that women are more likely to acknowledge a problem such as this and to seek help.)

How Do You Define “Binge Eating”?

Several questions still remain to be answered about the specifics of Binge Eating Disorder. (That’s why it’s not yet included as an official diagnosis, but instead included under the diagnosis of Eating Disorder; Not Otherwise Specified). We still need to define “binge eating.”

Does it qualify as “binge eating” only if someone eats a large amount of food in a two hour period of time…or would a person qualify for a binge eating disorder if they regularly ate small amounts of food all day long (we call that grazing)? What if a person turns to food every single time they have an emotional need?

At the Acoria Center, we see a great variety of binge eating patterns. In an effort to learn more about binge eating behavior, we are currently participating in and coauthoring a new study about Binge Eating Behaviors. For more information about that study, see Binge Eating Scale Self-test).

Learn More About Binge Eating Disorder treatment in Ending The Cycle of Binge Eating.