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A Computer-Based Platform for Aiding Clinicians in Eating Disorder Analysis and Diagnosis
Published on: May 10, 2022
Frequency of binge eating episodes in bulimia nervosa and binge eating disorder: Diagnostic considerations
G Terence Wilson1, Robyn Sysko
1Graduate School of Applied and Professional Psychology, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, Piscataway, New Jersey, USA. tewilson@rci.rutgers.edu
Objective:
In DSM-IV, to be diagnosed with Bulimia Nervosa (BN) or the provisional diagnosis of Binge Eating Disorder (BED), an individual must experience episodes of binge eating is "at least twice a week" on average, for 3 or 6 months, respectively. The purpose of this review was to examine the validity and utility of the frequency criterion for BN and BED.
Method:
Published studies evaluating the frequency criterion were reviewed.
Results:
Our review found little evidence to support the validity or utility of the DSM-IV frequency criterion of twice a week binge eating; however, the number of studies available for our review was limited.
Discussion:
A number of options are available for the frequency criterion in DSM-V, and the optimal diagnostic threshold for binge eating remains to be determined.
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