If you have concerns about dysfunctional eating behaviours, this screening tool can help identify whether these behaviours indicate the possible presence of an eating disorder. Note: this is not a diagnostic tool and is not a substitute for a professional evaluation.
A health professional may use the term unspecified feeding and eating disorder (or UFED) in situations in which they have determined that the symptoms that a person is experiencing are causing significant distress or difficulties in the person's daily life but that do not fully align with the criteria required for a specific diagnosis, or they do not have enough information to formulate a specific diagnosis.
Anorexia nervosa is a mental illness characterised by behaviours that interfere with maintaining an adequate weight.
Biological, social, genetic, and psychological factors play a role in increasing the risk of its onset.
Bulimia nervosa is a mental illness characterised by periods of food restriction followed by binge eating, with recurrent compensating behaviours to “purge” the body of the food.
Biological, social, genetic, and psychological factors play a role in increasing the risk of its onset.
Avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID) is characterised by severe limitations in the amount and/or types of food consumed, but unlike anorexia nervosa, it does not involve distress about body shape or size, or fears of fatness.
ARFID is a mental illness which can severely compromise growth, development, and health.
Binge eating disorder is a mental illness that can seriously affect psychological and physical health. It is characterized by recurrent episodes of eating large quantities of food then experiencing shame, distress or guilt afterwards.
Other Specified Feeding and Eating Disorders refers to atypical presentations of anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and binge eating disorder, among other eating disorders.
These eating disorders are equally serious and as potentially life-threatening as the more typical presentations.
Rumination syndrome, which also goes by the name rumination disorder, is classified as both a digestive disorder and a feeding and eating disorder.