ABSTRACT

Eating disorders pose a considerable risk to the health and adjustment of adolescent girls and young adult women. It is estimated that about 1% to 2% of young adult women suffer from anorexia nervosa (AN) or bulimia nervosa (BN; Fombonne, 1995; Hoek, 1993), the two major eating disorders currently recognized in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders (DSM-IV, APA, 1994). In addition, clinically significant eating disturbances subsumed under the category of eating disorders not otherwise specified (EDNOS) are thought to affect about 2% of adult women (Bruce & Agras, 1992; Shisslak, Crago, & Estes, 1995; Yanovski; 1993). Binge eating disorder (BED) has been introduced in the DSM-IV as a specific type of EDNOS, and BED has become the focus of considerable research activity. Eating disorders may cause serious and lasting health problems such as heart disease and infertility (Pike & Striegel-Moore, 1997). AN has the highest mortality rate of any psychiatric disorder (Crisp, Callender, Halek, & Hsu, 1992). Moreover, eating disorders are associated with psychiatric impairment as reflected in high rates of psychiatric comorbidity (for a review, see Wonderlich & Mitchell, 1997). In many cases, eating disorders show a cyclical pattern with periods of improvement alternating with periods of relapse, or they take a chronic course (Keller, Herzog, Lavori, Bradburn, & Mahoney, 1992).