binge eating disorder

When speaking of eating disorders, one usually refers to anorexia nervosa or bulimia nervosa. There are, however, quite a few people that fulfill several diagnostic criteria for either anorexia or bulimia and yet cannot be readily diagnosed as having either anorexia nervosa or bulimia nevosa. They can be said to suffer from an atypical eating disorder or an eating disorder not otherwise specified (EDNOS). One prominent example of such an atypical eating disorder is binge eating disorder. Like bulimia and some anorexia patients, patients with binge eating disorder regularly experience eating binges during which they will eat objectively large amounts of food. Unlike bulimia patients, patients with binge eating disorder do not show compensatory behaviour. As a result, they are more likely to gain weight and thus binge eating disorder is particularly prevalent among obese people. Obese persons with binge eating disorder are more likely to suffer from comorbid depression than obese persons who do not binge. Binge eating disorder can be treated effectively with cognitive behavioural therapy. What causes eating binges and what is the relation between symptoms of depression and binge eating are important questions in our current research.