ABSTRACT
The medical classification distinguishes several different eating disorders (i.e., anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, binge-eating disorder and other eating disorders), each requiring a specific treatment. However, several observations have shown that eating disorders share most of their clinical features and often migrate from one diagnosis to another. This chapter begins by discussing the distinction between eating problems and eating disorders, describing how eating disorders are currently classified. It describes their main features in young females, males and LGBTQ youth and ends by bringing these features together to illustrate an alternative way of thinking about eating disorders—the transdiagnostic perspective, upon which the “enhanced” cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT-E) described in this book is based.
