Bulimia Nervosa

Abstract

Bulimia Nervosa was not fully distinguished from anorexia as a clinical condition, until Gerald Russell published a paper on it in the UK in 1979, though it has been associated with anorexia since the early writings of Gull (1873). Bulimia nervosa has been described as ‘a syndrome characterised by repeated bouts of overeating and an excessive preoccupation with the control of body weight, leading to a pattern of overeating followed by vomiting or use of purgatives … often but not always with a history of an earlier episode of anorexia nervosa’ (ICD-10, p. 352). For a diagnosis to be made, the following should all be present:

• Persistent preoccupation with eating and an irresistible craving for food with bouts of overeating in which large amounts of food are consumed in a short period of time.

• Behaviour designed to counteract the effects of the above by using one or more of the following: self-induced vomiting, purging, alternating periods of starvation, use of appetite suppressants, thyroid preparations or diuretics.

• A morbid fear of fatness with a low target weight set.