What are the different types of eating disorder diagnoses?
Most people are familiar with two types of eating disorders: Anorexia Nervosa involves severe restriction of food intake (and sometimes, purging) and severely disturbed body image. Bulimia Nervosa involves binge eating accompanied by some activity designed to compensate for the binge eating, such as self-induced vomiting, laxative abuse, diuretic abuse, excessive exercising, and/or strict dieting outside of binge eating episodes. Body image disturbance is also a core feature of Bulimia. However, many people with eating disorders don’t fit neatly into either of these categories, and are ultimately diagnosed with Eating Disorder Not Otherwise Specified (ED-NOS). People with ED-NOS experience disturbed eating and its psychological ramifications, but don’t meet criteria for a diagnosis of Anorexia or Bulimia Nervosa. While ED-NOS is not a well-known diagnosis, it is believed that 50-60% of individuals who seek outpatient treatment for eating disorders meet criteria for ED-NOS. And ED-NOS c
