Prior use of extreme weight-control behaviors in a community sample of women with binge eating disorder or subthreshold binge eating disorder: a descriptive study.
OBJECTIVE
The prior occurrence of regular extreme weight-control behaviors was examined in a community sample of women (n = 27) with binge eating disorder (BED) or subthreshold BED.


RESULTS
Approximately two thirds of participants (65.4%) reported the prior use of either purging at least weekly or nonpurging behaviors three or more times per week, for a period of 3 months or more, whereas 38.5% of participants reported either purging at least twice weekly or nonpurging behaviors five or more times per week. Comparatively few participants (11.1%) had ever met formal diagnostic criteria for BN.


CONCLUSIONS
Considerable overlap between disorders characterized by binge eating in the absence of extreme weight-control behaviors and those characterized by extreme weight-control behaviors in the absence of binge eating may be apparent when a longitudinal perspective is taken. Caution needs to be exercised in drawing conclusions concerning the extent of this overlap based on any one operational definition of the term "regular extreme weight-control behaviors".
Mond
Jonathan M
JM
School of Biomedical and Health Sciences, University of Western Sydney, Campbelltown, Australia. j.mond@uws.edu.au
Peterson
Carol B
CB
Hay
Phillipa J
PJ
D000328:Adult; D056912:Binge-Eating Disorder / Q000523:psychology*; D001828:Body Image; D001835:Body Weight; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D012111:Residence Characteristics; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires