DSM in Need of Broadened ED Criteria

Continued studies, most recently published by Dr Mark Zimmerman for Methods to Improve Diagnostic Assessment and Services (MIDAS), and additional colleagues of both Rhode Island Hospital and Brown University, indicate that the current DSM-IV lacks adequate “diagnostic criteria for eating disorders”, and that “researchers recommend a broadening of the criteria” since currently only anorexia and bulimia are “officially recognized and formally defined”.

Makes definite sense.  Especially since DSM-IV was published back in 1994, and in reading the current DSM-V “white papers” , “DSM definitions are virtually devoid of biology, despite a large body of research that indicates a neurological basis for most mental disorders”.  And that for over the past ten to fifteen years, there has been a steady increase of research and findings developed within eating disorders expanding beyond just AN and BN, but also EDNOS (Eating Disorder Not Otherwise Specified) which counts for “more than half of the patients in treatment centers”, as well as Binge Eating, COE (Compulsive Over-Eating), and other “subthreshold variants” that clearly expand the scope of eating disorder symptoms and diagnosis.

From what the DSM-V timeline indicates, this much needed and updated manual will be published sometime in 2011, which seems like an eternity for many of us already too familiar with the complexity of eating disorders and more often inadequate care/treatment of our loved ones. 

So it’s encouraging to see the continued efforts and commitment of researchers and clinicians in the trenches (along with the rest of us!) collecting the data, and analyzing the results for peer review, publication, and improved teaching/training- which ultimately leads to better treatment and recovery options for those in need.