Definition
The current diagnosis of bulimia nervosa in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5; APA 2013) and the International Classification of Diseases-10 (1992) is characterized by repeated episodes of binge eating, accompanied by compensatory behaviors to prevent weight gain, including self-induced vomiting, laxative/diuretic misuse, fasting, and compensatory exercise. The DSM-5 also includes severity specifiers based on current average frequency of inappropriate compensatory behaviors per week (e.g., mild = 1–3; moderate = 4–7; severe = 8–13; extreme = 14 or greater).
Historical Background
Although historical records suggest that overeating and purging were observed several centuries ago and case histories were reported in the early 1900s, Gerald Russell first described bulimia nervosa in the scientific literature as an “ominous variant” of anorexia nervosa in 1979. In current nomenclature, “bulimia” was first included in DSM-III, which...
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Reference and Further Reading
American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed.). Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association.
Call, C., Walsh, B. T., & Attia, E. (2013). From DSM-IV to DSM-5: Changes to eating disorder diagnoses. Current Opinion Psychiatry, 26, 532–536.
Fairburn, C. G. (2008). Cognitive behavioral therapy and eating disorders. New York: Guilford.
Hudson, J., Hiripi, E., Pope, H. G., Jr., & Kessler, R. C. (2007). The prevalence and correlates of eating disorders in the National Comorbidity Survey Replication. Biological Psychiatry, 61, 348–358.
Keel, P. K., & Striegel-Moore, R. H. (2009). The validity and clinical utility of purging disorder. The International Journal of Eating Disorders, 42, 706–719.
Smink, F. R. E., van Hoeken, D., & Hoek, H. W. (2012). Epidemiology of eating disorders. Current Psychiatry Report, 14, 406–414.
Swanson, S. A., Crow, S. J., Le Grange, D., Swendsen, J., & Merikangas, K. R. (2011). Prevalence and correlates of eating disorders in adolescents: Results from the National Comorbidity Survey Replication Adolescent Supplement. Archives of General Psychiatry, 68, 714–723.
van Hoeken, D., Veling, W., Sinke, S., Mitchell, J. E., & Hoek, H. W. (2009). The validity and utility of subtyping bulimia nervosa. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 42, 595–602.
Wolfe, B. E., Baker, C. W., Smith, A. T., & Kelly-Weeder, S. (2009). Validity and utility of the current definition of binge eating. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 42, 674–686.
World Health Organization. (1992). International Classification of Diseases-10 classification of mental and behavioral disorders: Clinical descriptions and diagnostic guidelines. Geneva: World Health Organization.
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Peterson, C.B., Pisetsky, E.M., Berg, K.C. (2015). Bulimia Nervosa. In: Wade, T. (eds) Encyclopedia of Feeding and Eating Disorders. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-287-087-2_48-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-287-087-2_48-1
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