Eating Disorders

Abstract

In a social context that equates thinness with many social values, it is not surprising to find that most people display body‐image and diet self‐consciousness, and that an alarming number of these persons (especially young women) progress to the development of an eating disorder. Anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa are the two primary variants of eating disorder recognized within authoritative diagnostic nomenclatures. However, binge eating disorder is likely to become a third, officially recognized variant of eating disorder in future editions of diagnostic manuals. Anorexia, bulimia, and binge eating are polysymptomatic syndromes defined by maladaptive attitudes and behaviors around eating, weight and body image, and more nonspecific disturbances of self‐image, mood, impulse‐regulation, and interpersonal functioning. Reviewed in this chapter are pathognomonic features of the eating disorders, findings on concurrent traits and comorbid psychopathology, and putative biological, psychological, and social factors that may explain their etiology and development.

Daily Spillover to and from Binge Eating in First-Year University Females

“…If, as the coping models propose, binge eating serves to mask or escape distress via the misattribution of negative affect, then negative affect should be reduced following a binge. On the other hand, negative affect may remain elevated or increase following a binge because binge eating is distressing (APA, 1994;Fairburn & Wilson, 1993;Steiger et al, 2003). Furthermore, if the coping models are correct, negative feelings may shift to center on the binge or consequences of binge eating.…”