Dyk #9: Is Binge Eating a recognized mental illness?

Did you know…

That Binge Eating is currently not a recognized mental illness?

Currently, only Anorexia Nervosa, Bulimia Nervosa, Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (currently called Feeding Disorder of Infancy or Early Childhood) and Eating Disorder Not Otherwise Described are recognized mental illnesses.

This will soon change, however. One of the many proposals for the new DSM (edition 5) is the addition of “Binge Eating Disorder”.

These are the proposed diagnostic criteria:

A. Recurrent episodes of binge eating. An episode of binge eating is characterized by both of the following:

  1. eating, in a discrete period of time (for example, within any 2-hour period), an amount of food that is definitely larger than most people would eat in a similar period of time under similar circumstances
  2. a sense of lack of control over eating during the episode (for example, a feeling that one cannot stop eating or control what or how much one is eating)

B. The binge-eating episodes are associated with three (or more) of the following:

  1. eating much more rapidly than normal
  2. eating until feeling uncomfortably full
  3. eating large amounts of food when not feeling physically hungry
  4. eating alone because of feeling embarrassed by how much one is eating
  5. feeling disgusted with oneself, depressed, or very guilty afterwards

C. Marked distress regarding binge eating is present.

D. The binge eating occurs, on average, at least once a week for three months.

E. The binge eating is not associated with the recurrent use of inappropriate compensatory behavior (for example, purging) and does not occur exclusively during the course Anorexia Nervosa, Bulimia Nervosa, or Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder.

You might say: “isn’t Bulimia all about binge eating? Isn’t it the same?” In a way, it is, but someone with Bulimia “purges”. Someone with Binge Eating Disorder does not. Subsequently, researchers have found that binge eating is often the cause for people’s obesity.

I think this is a great step toward helping people with this problem now that it will be recognized. With these diagnostic criteria researchers and therapists will be able to create standardized  therapies that will be able to successfully treat these people.

 

Related posts:

  1. Dyk #7: Which works better, standardized or individualized therapy?
Posted by on Mar 3, 2011 in Did You Know, Psychology | 4 comments
  • http://piperbayard.wordpress.com Piper Bayard

    Well, I understand why people can look at binge eating as a mental illness. But if that’s so, a majority of the population is mentally ill during Girl Scout cookie season.

    I’ve been a binge eater, and a binge many other things, for that matter. I’m not a binge anything now because I decided to grow up and take responsibility for what I put in my mouth. Was it easy? Hell, no. But so what? Life’s hard. It’s hard for everyone.

    So many things are now classified as mental illnesses that one is simply mentally ill these days if they are at all human. I think it’s gone too far, and society soon won’t remember a time when there were just “juveniles” and “grown ups” instead of walking labels.

    The fact is that the vast majority of “mental illnesses” are simply tactics to avoid taking responsibility for one’s life, or, as my parents would say, growing up. Whether it’s an addiction to food, drink, drugs, tv, World of Warcraft, or blogging, at it’s root, it is people avoiding the pain of awareness. And awareness IS painful. It makes us acknowledge uncomfortable emotions instead of burying them in the next cookie, drink, or cigarette. It makes us honestly realize we are not the people we want to be, and we have choices. Awareness leads us to truth, and truth will set us free, so they say, but not before it makes us seriously miserable. Enough with the labels. Let’s just grow up.

    Overall, I see mental illness as extreme chemical imbalance, and I object to labeling every human weakness a mental illness. That just gives people an excuse to not grow up and take responsibility for themselves.

    • Manon Eileen

      Hey Piper, thanks for stopping by :)

      While I do understand where you’re coming from… I don’t think everyone has the ability to even become aware of the fact that they’re binging (or whatever else unhealthy they’re doing to hurt their bodies for that matter).

      By making people aware of the fact that binge eating is unhealthy, I think a lot of people will realize that what they’re doing is truly wrong and that they need to change. Not everyone has the capability to look at themselves critically, not everyone has the capability to realize that they’re doing something very wrong. Those people need that help.

      And I can see why you think labeling someone is a way to avoid responsibility, that’s not what it’s for. That, in fact, is a very wrong coping style and not at all the goal of the “label”. People who say “I’m a binge eater/addict, I can’t help it”, are wrong, because there are therapies to help them. By labeling them, in my opinion, you give them the power to help themselves and actually TAKE responsibility for their own actions.

      Everything we do, in a way, is produced by our brains, and for that matter, binge eating *is* a chemical imbalance, extreme or not (personally I would call every over-indulgence an extreme imbalance but perhaps that’s personal).

      I don’t think it’s as much about the labeling of every human weakness, I genuinely see it as a way to help people realize that what they’re doing is wrong and that they can get help if they want.

      Thanks for your thoughtful comment, Piper :)

  • http://piperbayard.wordpress.com Piper Bayard

    Well, I would certainly agree that, after two boxes of Thin Mints, I am chemically imbalanced. . . . Just kidding. Haven’t done that in twenty years.

    It’s true that information can lead to new awareness. For example, when I was a kid, there was no nutritional labeling on foods. Fat content? Preservatives? What were those? We’d consume straight DDT and sit out on our lawn chairs to watch nuclear test explosions. (The nuclear test thing was actually my parents’ generation, but I had fun saying it.) Amazing any of us survived. Now, I read every label to weed out the high fructose corn syrup, the hormones, and MSG. I think, ultimately, by whatever path, some people will find their way to responsibility, and others will not. But most of us will take responsibility for some things and ignore others because, at the root of it, we’re only human.

    Thanks for the fun blogs and the conversation.

    • Manon Eileen

      Lol @ the nuclear testing. That’s nuts :p.

      Anyway, the food labels are kinds of the same thing. It raises awareness, but people are free in their choice whether or not they want to pay attention to them and use them to their benefit.

      Thanks for the discussion, Piper!