What is the diagnosis of bulimia?


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For a patient/client to be diagnosed with bulimia, all of the following criteria must be met:

1. The patient repeatedly eats in binges. In a binge episode, both of these are true:
* The patient consumes much more food than most people would in similar circumstances and in a similar time period.
* The patient feels that the eating is out of control.
2. The patient repeatedly controlds weight gain by inappropriate means, such as fasting, self-induced vomiting, excessive exercise, or abuse of laxatives, diuretics, or other drugs.
3. Both of the behaviors above have occured at least twice monthy for a minimum of three (3) consecutive months.
4. Weight and body shape unduly affect the patient's self-evaluation.
5. These symptoms do not occur solely during episode of Anorexia Nervosa.

Criteria for Anorexia Nervosa:
1. The patient will not maintain a minimum body weight (e.g., 85% of expected weight for height and age). (Example, a 5'2" female should weigh 110lbs. An anorexic will only weigh 94lbs or less.)
2. Despite being underweight, the patient intensely fears weight gain or obesity.
3. Self-perception of the body is abnormal, as shown by at least one of these:
* Unduly emphasizes weight or shape in self-evaluation
* Denies seriousness of low weight
* Has a distorted perception of own body shape or weight
4. Due to weight loss, a female patient has missed at least three consecutive menstrual periods (or periods occur only when she is given/taking hormones or birth control)

It is important to remember that a person may still have disordered eating even if she/he does not meet all of the criteria for either of the DSM IV recognized eating disorders. Sometimes a patient will meet all but one criterion. This does not mean that we ignore or dismiss the problem; instead, we classify this as an eating disorder not otherwise specified and treat just the same we would if he/she did meet all the criteria for either diagnosis.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bulimia#Diagnosis


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