Causes and Treatments for Eating Disorders

As an eating disorder specialist, I find myself constantly answering the same questions time and time again. Most people seem to be very curious about the type of work that I do, especially when it comes to how diagnoses are given out. For some reason, the most fascinating aspect for many is the diagnosis of ED-NOS, which stands for Eating Disorder- Not Otherwise Specified. This is a clinical diagnosis that identifies individuals who are suffering from an eating disorder but whose symptoms do not meet all of the diagnostic criteria for a classified disorder. It's very important for people to understand that just because a person's disorder is not easily identifiable like Anorexia or Bulimia, that their disorder is neither less nor greater for that fact.

An example of disordered eating that would fall into the category of ED-NOS is binge eating on a frequent, ongoing basis without a corresponding compensatory behavior such as purging or excessive dieting. The reverse would also be the case- engaging in inappropriate compensatory behaviors in the absence of binge eating. Both of these would normally be aspects of bulimia, but in this case, are part of a different manifestation of the eating disorder. When all the criteria for bulimia are met except for the frequency (less than twice a week and/or for a duration of less than three months) this too would be deemed ED-NOS. This works the same way for traditional symptoms of anorexia. If a person met all the criteria except one, such as having regular menses or having a weight in the normal range, they would be diagnosed ED-NOS, rather than anorexic. This particular diagnosis is also there to encompass symptoms that do not regularly manifest elsewhere, such as chewing and spitting, an eating disorder behavior that involves a person chewing food and then spitting it out, rather than swallowing it.

I think that part of what fascinates people so much is the reality that so many of us have at some time or another struggled with weight, body image or food. It's hard not to if you're living in today's western society. There is a great deal of focus on what beauty is, or in the insufferably annoying words of Paris Hilton, what's hot. Some people develop eating disorders as a result of an unhealthy desire to achieve a standard of beauty that is too idealized to be possible. Many people react to traumas in their past by attempting to control, or losing control, of their relationship with food.