The Department of Psychology presents, “Purging Disorder: Evidence for a ‘New’ Eating Disorder,” with Pamela Keel, professor of psychology at Florida State University.
Eating disorders represent a significant source of psychological and medical morbidity among late adolescent and young adult women. Keel will review several studies on purging disorder, a newly described syndrome characterized by recurrent purging (e.g., self-induced vomiting) after normal or small amounts of food in normal weight individuals. Results of this work support the clinical significance and potential distinctiveness of purging disorder, suggesting that this syndrome may merit specific delineation within diagnostic schemes. Considering the adage that “we study what we define,” inclusion of purging disorder as a named condition among the DSM-5 Otherwise Specified Feeding and Eating Disorders may facilitate much-needed research into the causes, consequences, and efficacious treatment of this newly identified eating disorder.