Bulimia Nervosa

Diagnosis
The criteria for diagnosing a patient with bulimia are:

Recurrent episodes of binge eating. An episode of binge eating is characterized by both of the following:
-Eating, in a fixed period of time (e.g., within any two-hour period), an amount of food that is definitely larger than most people would eat during a similar period of time and 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).
-Recurrent inappropriate compensatory behavior to prevent weight gain, such as self-induced vomiting; misuse of laxatives, diuretics or other medications; fasting,or excessive exercise.
-The binge eating and inappropriate compensatory behaviors both occur, on average, at least twice a week for three months.
-Self-evaluation is unduly influenced by body shape and weight.
-The disturbance does not occur exclusively during episodes of anorexia nervosa.


See the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. If any of these symptoms are noticed, a doctor or psychologist should be contacted. However, these symptoms are often difficult to spot. Unlike anorexia nervosa, the person must be of normal or higher weight and is less likely to drop a significant amount of weight on a continual basis. Because bulimia carries a great deal of shame, the bulimic desperately tries to hide the symptoms from family and friends. Bulimia is more likely to span over a lifetime unnoticed, causing a great deal of isolation and stress for the suffering individual. Despite the frequent lack of obvious physical symptoms, bulimia has proven to be fatal, as malnutrition takes a serious toll on every bodily organ.