5 Types of Eating Disorders

If you feel a lot of stress or distress around eating, you aren’t alone. An increasing number of adults, and even more children and teenagers, struggle with disordered eating. But no matter your age or gender, eating disorders can create serious physical and mental health challenges, and even result in death. Here is how to recognize the 5 most common types of eating disorders, so you know when to reach out and get help. 

What Are the Chances You Have an Eating Disorder?

By one estimate, 9% of the U.S. population – that’s 30 million people – will have an eating disorder at some point in their lifetime. Eating disorders affect women over twice as often (8.60%) as men (4.07%). Most eating disorders emerge in adolescence or young adulthood, but they can also affect adults, including perimenopausal women. If your eating disorder goes undiagnosed and untreated, it can negatively affect your physical and mental health for years, and can even result in disability or death. 

5 Types of Eating Disorders

Not all eating disorders are the same. Knowing about the different types of eating disorders can help better identify, name, and treat disordered eating, so you can better protect your health. 

Anorexia Nervosa

Anorexia nervosa is one of the most common types of eating disorders. It is characterized by self-starvation and low body weight (with a body mass index (BMI) under 18.5). It can take one of two forms:

• Restrictive type – where the person diets, fasts, or exercises excessively to lose weight
• Binge-eating/purging type – where the person adds intermittent periods of binge-eating and eliminative behaviors

Anorexia has one of the highest mortality rates of any psychological disorder because starvation can cause severe, life threatening physical symptoms. Psychotherapy for patients with anorexia nervosa usually involves helping you normalize your eating and weight control behaviors and counter the anxiety you experience around eating. 

Bulimia Nervosa

Another type of eating disorder is bulimia nervosa. If you suffer from bulimia, you will alternate between binge eating – where you eat a large amount of food in a short period of time – and dieting, fasting, exercise, or eliminating to try to make up for the previous binge. This cycle often occurs at least weekly. Not everyone who suffers from bulimia loses weight. However, purging behaviors can cause problems with your digestion, mouth, throat, or stomach. 

Bulimia often comes with excessive feelings of shame and embarrassment. You may find yourself creating a list of “forbidden” foods, feeling a loss of control over eating, and becoming preoccupied with thoughts about food or your weight, shape, or self-image. Psychotherapy in these cases focuses on normalizing eating behavior and managing the thoughts and feelings that trigger urges to binge or purge. 

Binge Eating Disorder

Binge eating disorder is a type of eating disorder similar to bulimia nervosa in the sense that people who experience it consume large quantities of food in a short period of time. They may also similarly feel a loss of control or distress over their eating behaviors. However, they do not engage in the same reactionary cycle of purging after a binge. As a result, if you suffer from binge eating disorder, you may gain substantial amounts of weight, and suffer the physical health effects that are common to obesity, such as diabetes, hypertension, or cardiovascular issues. 

A binge eating disorder diagnosis requires at least one binge a week for three months, a sense of lack of self control, and at least three of the following symptoms:

• Rapid eating
• Eating until uncomfortably full
• Consuming large amounts of food while not feeling hungry
• Eating alone out of embarrassment 
• Feelings of disgust, depression, or guilt after a binge

Psychotherapy is often used to treat binge eating disorder along with antidepressant medications. 

Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID)

Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID) is a type of eating disorder that can be described as a form of extreme picky eating, to the point that it fails to meet your nutritional needs. If you are experiencing ARFID, you may avoid food or limit your dietary intake based on: 

• Low appetite or interest in food
• Sensory characteristics of foods (such as texture, color, appearance, or smell)
• Anxieties around the process of eating (such as choking, nausea, vomiting, elimination, or fear of an allergic reaction)

However, ARFID is not diagnosed based on cultural or religious practices, normal dieting, or the lack of available food. 

ARFID can result in significant weight loss, and other physical symptoms related to lack of nutrition. You may feel unable to eat with others because you cannot share the meal, and may find you need to take supplements to make up for the lack of certain nutrients in your diet. However, unlike anorexia or bulimia, you likely will not have excessive concerns about your weight or body shape. Instead, it may be more connected to fear. Treatment may involve working with a psychotherapist and a nutritionist to address your concerns and normalize your thoughts around food. 

Other Specified Feeding and Eating Disorder (OSFED)

The last type of eating disorder is Other Specified Feeding and Eating Disorder (OSFED). This is a catch-all category designed to address any eating behaviors that cause distress and impair life functions, but don’t fit neatly into one of the categories above. Disordered eating in this category may be an “atypical” version of another type of eating disorder, or may not meet the criteria for weight loss or frequency of symptoms. 

What to Do If You Think You Have an Eating Disorder

If you are experiencing anxiety, fear, guilt, or shame about your eating behaviors, it may be wise to talk to a psychotherapist to determine if you have an eating disorder. You don’t need to suffer these negative emotions or the physical symptoms of these conditions alone. By working with an experienced psychotherapist, you can learn new ways to address your disordered eating, and get back to better health. 

David Stanislaw is a psychotherapist with over 30 years of experience. He helps children, teens and adults with eating disorders and other psychological issues. Contact David Stanislaw to get help today.