What are the major categories of eating disorders?

Psychiatrist and eating disorder specialist Dr. Michael Pertschuk discusses the major categories of eating disorders. Watch Dr. Pertschuk''s video for tips and information on eating behaviors.

Transcript

00:00

See people who might be exercising three or four or five hours a day to make up for a binge that they did earlier. [MUSIC PLAYING]

00:12

There are three major categories of eating disorders. There's anorexia nervosa, which basically is defined by self-induced weight loss,

00:20

usually to a level of at least 85% or less of ideal body weight, but actually, sometimes, you can see people get as low as 50% ideal body weight.

00:28

So it can be quite extreme. And the key here is self-induced. It's not a result of a medical illness. It's not from cancer.

00:35

It's not from AIDS. It is an intentional process. Often, people with that diagnosis

00:42

have a very distorted body image. They don't even recognize how thin that they're getting. Bulimia nervosa is second diagnosis,

00:49

and that is defined really by two things. One is binge eating, which is subjective sense of loss

00:56

of control over eating. It's eating a lot of food in a limited period of time, kind of defining a binge.

01:04

And then, some compensatory behavior. That can be self-induced vomiting, it can be laxative abuse, it can be exercise.

01:12

You see people who might be exercising three or four or five hours a day to make up for a binge that they did earlier. Or extreme dietary restriction, another way

01:20

of trying to compensate. So bulimia, a person typically is normal weight or thereabouts.

01:27

And then, binge eating disorder, which, again, is sort of like bulimia, except minus the compensatory

01:33

behavior. So you have the binge, they're eating a lot of food in a limited period of time, often, could be repeatedly during the course of a day,

01:41

but because there's no compensatory behavior, they gain weight. A significant number of people who are morbidly obese

01:48

are binge eaters because they just eat and eat, and they put the weight on.