ABSTRACT
Psychologically the food or eating disorder can be used as a way to compensate for or hide from unnamable feelings. A person with an eating disorder may first begin to appropriately lose weight, but to be classified as an eating disorder, this behavior intensifies at some point, and there is a sense of loss of control over food and body image. The two primary eating disorders described in the DSM-IV-TR are anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa (BN). When used in conjunction with other treatment interventions, medication can be an important component in the treatment of BN. The Food and Drug Administration has approved the use of fluoxetine for the treatment of BN. If there are believed to be strong underlying psychological factors that are contributing to the medical condition of obesity, there can be a diagnosis of eating disorder, not otherwise specified. In addition, there is research underway to help define a new eating disorder called binge eating disorder.
