Abstract
The current DSM-5 classification of eating disorders suggests that there are several distinctive eating disorders, each requiring a specific treatment. However, numerous studies and clinical observations suggest that eating disorders may in fact be different phenotypic manifestations of a single core psychopathology. This chapter begins by discussing how eating disorders are currently classified. It then describes their main features, and ends by bringing these features together to illustrate an alternative conceptualization of eating disorder—a transdiagnostic perspective.
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Notes
- 1.
The standardized mortality ratio is the ratio of observed deaths in the study group to expected deaths in the general population. The SMR may be quoted as either a ratio or a percentage. If the SMR is quoted as a ratio and is equal to 1.0, this means the number of observed deaths equals that of expected cases. If the SMR is greater than 1.0, there is a higher number of deaths than expected.
- 2.
The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) combines feeding and eating disorders in a single diagnostic category. Feeding disorders mainly, but not exclusively, affect children and adolescents, and include the following diagnostic categories: pica, rumination disorder and avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder. Feeding disorders are not discussed in this book since these states present quite differently from the main eating disorders (i.e., there is an absence of the core overvaluation of shape, weight and their control, and no binge-eating episodes or compensatory behaviors). In addition to anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa and binge-eating disorder, the eating disorders include a large group of “other specified or unspecified feeding or eating disorders”, which in this book we have grouped into a single category, which we term “other eating disorders”.
- 3.
The threshold for defining a significantly low weight is debated and varies. Body Mass Index or BMI thresholds (kg/m2) of 17.5, 18.0 or 18.5 are typically used. BMI-for-age growth charts are used to assess BMI in youths.
- 4.
A small or moderate amount of food associated with sense of lack of control over eating during the episode, as opposed to objective binge-eating episodes, in which the amount of food consumed is, in fact, unusually large.
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Dalle Grave, R., Sartirana, M., Calugi, S. (2021). Eating Disorders: An Overview. In: Complex Cases and Comorbidity in Eating Disorders. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-69341-1_1
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