georgiamay
November 28th, 2010, 11:50 AM
EDNOS and Disordered Eating
EDNOS (Eating Disorder Not Otherwise Specified):
EDNOS is a term used when a person shows signs of disordered eating but does not meet all of the diagnostic criteria for one of the three Diagnostic Statistical Manual (DSM) recognised eating disorders, Anorexia Nervosa, Bulimia Nervosa or Binge Eating Disorder. For example, a person could show all of the psychological signs of anorexia and be losing weight, but still be menstruating (for females) and is not yet underweight for their height (for both sexes).
The DSM (Diagnostic and Statistic Manual) has assigned criteria for EDNOS; however there are several forms of disordered eating emerging in recent decades which are not covered by the DSM.
When making an assessment of a patient, a doctor has only certain diagnostic criteria to go by according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. If you meet some but not all of the criteria of Anorexia Nervosa or Bulimia Nervosa, a doctor may diagnose an EDNOS.
Eating Disorder Not Otherwise Specified (EDNOS) refers to any kind of eating pattern that is "disordered" or irrational, but which doesn't fit specific guidelines for other types. For instance:
• Someone who meets all the criteria for anorexia nervosa but continues to have normal menstrual cycles (for females), or who can maintain weight in the "normal" range.
• A person who meets all the criteria for bulimia nervosa, but who has been doing it for less than three months or less often than twice weekly.
• There is no bingeing but there is purging, laxative use, excessive exercise, or other behaviours after eating small amounts of food.
• Continued chewing and spitting out large amounts of food without swallowing.
• Someone who binges and purges, but not in reaction to his or her perception of body shape.
Binge-eating disorder is officially an EDNOS. The emotional and physical symptoms of EDNOS conditions are similar to those of the more "standard" eating disorders, with some variations. One is "night eating syndrome," where a person does most of his or her eating at the evening meal and later, into the night, when the desire to eat often interrupts sleep. If your focus is on eating or not eating, and it persists when it makes no logical sense - and causes more problems than it solves - you may have a problem.
Disordered Eating:
All of the above eating disorders fall under the broad category of disordered eating. In a culture where the media urge us to cook and eat rich foods and offer us "sure thing" diets; where we worry about obese children but warn against early dieting - we could say that our society's view of food and weight is "disordered." This may be so common that it's hard to recognize it in an individual. But disordered eating can get in the way of daily life when a person's attitudes about food, weight, and body size lead to very rigid eating and exercise habits that make life painful.
Disordered eating may begin as a way to lose a few pounds or get in shape, but these behaviours can get out of control, become obsessions, and may even turn into an eating disorder. When you see someone who seems to pay too much attention to weighing, calorie-counting, or exercise, he or she may be dealing with disordered eating.
Do any of those descriptions sound familiar? Eating-disorder specialists point out that focusing on a specific diagnosis can be misleading - it's too easy to think, "Well, I don't have that one symptom... so I must not have a disorder." A simpler rule to evaluate a person with food-focused disorders is just to ask, "Are you thinking about weight, food, and calories, too much? Are you engaging in unhealthy behaviours to control your weight?"
Here is a simple list of things to look out for:
- Obsession with weight. This could lead to constant trips to the scales, and getting annoyed if you feel that the number is too high.
- Calorie counting, and not letting yourself eat more than a certain amount per day.
- Obsessive exercising, to burn off any extra calories that you wish to be rid of.
- Constantly on a diet, starting a diet or finishing a diet, with no time in between each.
- Feeling like you have to control your weight, and you won’t let your body take it’s natural course, you continue to interfere with your weight in any way.
- Laxative or diet pill abuse.
- Infrequent binging.
- Infrequent Purging.
- Infrequent starving.
This list shows some fo the warning signs of EDNOS or disordered eating. If you believe that you may have either of these, please seek help, because there is a very strong chance that this could develop into a clinical eating disorder.
Useful Sources:
healthyplace.com (http://www.healthyplace.com/eating-disorders/main/eating-disorders-not-otherwise-specified-ednos/menu-id-58/)
disordered-eating.co.uk (http://www.disordered-eating.co.uk/disordered-eating/eating-disorder-not-otherwise-specified.html)
pale-reflections.com (http://www.pale-reflections.com/ednos.asp)
b-eat.co.uk (http://www.b-eat.co.uk/Home)
EDNOS (Eating Disorder Not Otherwise Specified):
EDNOS is a term used when a person shows signs of disordered eating but does not meet all of the diagnostic criteria for one of the three Diagnostic Statistical Manual (DSM) recognised eating disorders, Anorexia Nervosa, Bulimia Nervosa or Binge Eating Disorder. For example, a person could show all of the psychological signs of anorexia and be losing weight, but still be menstruating (for females) and is not yet underweight for their height (for both sexes).
The DSM (Diagnostic and Statistic Manual) has assigned criteria for EDNOS; however there are several forms of disordered eating emerging in recent decades which are not covered by the DSM.
When making an assessment of a patient, a doctor has only certain diagnostic criteria to go by according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. If you meet some but not all of the criteria of Anorexia Nervosa or Bulimia Nervosa, a doctor may diagnose an EDNOS.
Eating Disorder Not Otherwise Specified (EDNOS) refers to any kind of eating pattern that is "disordered" or irrational, but which doesn't fit specific guidelines for other types. For instance:
• Someone who meets all the criteria for anorexia nervosa but continues to have normal menstrual cycles (for females), or who can maintain weight in the "normal" range.
• A person who meets all the criteria for bulimia nervosa, but who has been doing it for less than three months or less often than twice weekly.
• There is no bingeing but there is purging, laxative use, excessive exercise, or other behaviours after eating small amounts of food.
• Continued chewing and spitting out large amounts of food without swallowing.
• Someone who binges and purges, but not in reaction to his or her perception of body shape.
Binge-eating disorder is officially an EDNOS. The emotional and physical symptoms of EDNOS conditions are similar to those of the more "standard" eating disorders, with some variations. One is "night eating syndrome," where a person does most of his or her eating at the evening meal and later, into the night, when the desire to eat often interrupts sleep. If your focus is on eating or not eating, and it persists when it makes no logical sense - and causes more problems than it solves - you may have a problem.
Disordered Eating:
All of the above eating disorders fall under the broad category of disordered eating. In a culture where the media urge us to cook and eat rich foods and offer us "sure thing" diets; where we worry about obese children but warn against early dieting - we could say that our society's view of food and weight is "disordered." This may be so common that it's hard to recognize it in an individual. But disordered eating can get in the way of daily life when a person's attitudes about food, weight, and body size lead to very rigid eating and exercise habits that make life painful.
Disordered eating may begin as a way to lose a few pounds or get in shape, but these behaviours can get out of control, become obsessions, and may even turn into an eating disorder. When you see someone who seems to pay too much attention to weighing, calorie-counting, or exercise, he or she may be dealing with disordered eating.
Do any of those descriptions sound familiar? Eating-disorder specialists point out that focusing on a specific diagnosis can be misleading - it's too easy to think, "Well, I don't have that one symptom... so I must not have a disorder." A simpler rule to evaluate a person with food-focused disorders is just to ask, "Are you thinking about weight, food, and calories, too much? Are you engaging in unhealthy behaviours to control your weight?"
Here is a simple list of things to look out for:
- Obsession with weight. This could lead to constant trips to the scales, and getting annoyed if you feel that the number is too high.
- Calorie counting, and not letting yourself eat more than a certain amount per day.
- Obsessive exercising, to burn off any extra calories that you wish to be rid of.
- Constantly on a diet, starting a diet or finishing a diet, with no time in between each.
- Feeling like you have to control your weight, and you won’t let your body take it’s natural course, you continue to interfere with your weight in any way.
- Laxative or diet pill abuse.
- Infrequent binging.
- Infrequent Purging.
- Infrequent starving.
This list shows some fo the warning signs of EDNOS or disordered eating. If you believe that you may have either of these, please seek help, because there is a very strong chance that this could develop into a clinical eating disorder.
Useful Sources:
healthyplace.com (http://www.healthyplace.com/eating-disorders/main/eating-disorders-not-otherwise-specified-ednos/menu-id-58/)
disordered-eating.co.uk (http://www.disordered-eating.co.uk/disordered-eating/eating-disorder-not-otherwise-specified.html)
pale-reflections.com (http://www.pale-reflections.com/ednos.asp)
b-eat.co.uk (http://www.b-eat.co.uk/Home)