"Bulimia nervosa (BN) is an eating disorder that involves binge eating and purging. It effects approximately 1% of young women and 0.1% of young men and co-morbid disorders, such as mood disorders, anxiety and substance abuse are common.
So how do you get diagnosed with bulimia?
To be diagnosed with bulimia nervosa one would fit the following criteria:
Recurrent episodes of binge eating, which is eating within a distinct period of time, typically 2 hours, an amount of food that is larger than most people would eat under similar circumstances, and feeling out of control over the eating during that time.
To prevent weight gain there are recurrent use of inappropriate compensatory measures, such as self-induced vomiting; misuse of laxatives; diuretics, or other medications; fasting; or excessive exercise.
The binge eating and inappropriate compensatory measures take place, on average, 1x/week for 3 months and self-evaluation is unduly influenced by body weight and size.
What is the treatment?
Treatment for all eating disorders can take place in various levels of care: outpatient therapy, inpatient, residential, partial hospitalization, and intensive outpatient. The level of severity determines which level of care a person will necessitate.
Cognitive behavioral therapy and dialectical behavior therapy are the most common evidence based treatments for BN. A major part of treatment is learning to sit with emotions, even the uncomfortable ones, without using binging or purging to numb out. Becoming adept at riding out uncomfortable emotions, or being able to change the ones that are changeable, can lead to significant breakthroughs., Bulimia is difficult to treat and approximately 30-50% of people will relapse."
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