The Los Angeles Times is taking a very interesting in-depth look at binge eating this weekend, asking a question that the American Psychiatric Association has yet to answer: is binge eating truly a psychiatric disorder? Though anorexia and bulimia are already in the APA’s diagnostic manual, with proper descriptions, diagnostic criteria, and potential treatment options, binge eating, the process of consuming large amounts of food in a compulsive manner without purging, is often lumped under the vague “ED-NOS” or “eating disorder not otherwise specified,” a diagnosis given to those who display symptoms of disordered eating but don’t fit the standard eating disorder diagnostic criteria. As Melissa Healy of the Times writes , “In light of new research and a seemingly growing population of patients who fit the broad description of binge eaters, psychiatrists must decide whether ” binge eating disorder ” should stand alongside anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa as a separate…
