Otherwise Specified Feeding or Eating Disorder (OSFED)
Women with other specified feeding or eating disorder (OSFED) don’t meet all the criteria for specific eating disorders. For example, they may not meet the guidelines for doctors to diagnose them with bulimia or anorexia. However, they do have some of the symptoms, which interfere with their ability to live their lives, and they need the same treatments as those who have specific eating disorders.
Previously, experts referred to OSFED as an eating disorder not otherwise specified (EDNOS). They developed this category to encompass those that have significant eating problems that aren’t consistent with existing disorders.
Otherwise Specified Feeding or Eating Disorder (OSFED) Categories
As an example, experts can’t diagnose anorexia in people that exhibit restricted eating habits but have normal body weights, so there are five subcategories of OSFED, including:
- Atypical anorexia
- Bulimia with less frequent behaviors
- Binge eating with less frequent behaviors
- Purging disorder
- Night eating syndrome
Purging disorder differs from bulimia because people don’t binge before they purge. With night eating syndrome, they eat most of their food during the night. Sometimes, urges to eat interrupt their sleep cycle.
Although some experts consider OSFED to be a less severe condition, it has serious, life-threatening effects.
How We Treat
Our evidence-based clinical treatment modalities for treating compulsive exercise disorder include the following: