Another type of eating disorder is that individuals usually consume larger amounts of food than usual in a very short period of time. They often feel out of control and feel intense shame and guilt afterwards. People with binge eating disorder do not loosen either via vomiting, exercise or medicine. They seem to be extremely overweight. The difference between bulimia and binge eating disorder is the practice of binge eating after consuming food, whereas in BED individuals don’t practice binge eating.
Diagnostic Criteria (DSM 5)
- Recurrent episodes of binge eating. An episode of binge eating is characterized by both of the following:
- Eating, in a discrete period of time (e.g., within any 2-hour period), an amount of food that is definitely larger than what most people would eat in a similar period of time under similar circumstances.
- A sense of lack of control over eating during the episode (e.g., a feeling that one cannot stop eating or control what or how much one is eating).
- The binge-eating episodes are associated with three (or more) of the following:
- 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.
- Feeling disgusted with oneself, depressed, or very guilty afterward.
4. Marked distress regarding binge eating is present.
5. The binge eating occurs, on average, at least once a week for 3 months.
6. The binge eating is not associated with the recurrent use of inappropriate compensatory behavior as in bulimia nervosa and does not occur exclusively during the course of bulimia nervosa or anorexia nervosa.