Diagnosis and symptoms
The American Psychiatric Association has published a document called Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, in which it sets the criteria for diagnosing a patient with bulimia.
- Recurrent episodes of binge eating. (An episode is defined as eating an amount of food that is definitely larger than most people would eat in that very same period of time, accompanied by a feeling that one cannot stop eating or control what or how much one is eating).
- Recurrent compensatory behavior to prevent weight gain, such as: self-induced vomiting; misuse of laxatives, diuretics, fasting; excessive exercise.
- Self-evaluation is largely based on body size and weight.