NEDA has long been involved in supporting patients with a range of eating disorders. However, one area that has received less attention in the past is Binge Eating Disorder (B.E.D.). B.E.D. affects an estimated 2.8 million US adults, based on a national survey, and is more prevalent than anorexia and bulimia combined. [1,2] *

When I was a child, teen and young adult a series of traumatic events, hurtful words, and a dysfunctional environment led me to develop this coping mechanism called an eating disorder.  My eating disorder spanned over twenty years of my life bouncing back and forth between anorexia, bulimia, and binge eating.  At one time or another my weight was at one end of a spectrum to another.  The scale or the size of my pants became a measure of my worth.  My weight was a number that became my value system.  Magazines and media shout loudly at the world saying that what we look like, what we wear or

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For people with out-of-control eating issues, the publication of the new DSM-V is nothing short of a triumph. Why? Binge Eating Disorder (BED) has finally gotten its own diagnosis code identifying it as a mental health issue separate from other EDs like anorexia and bulimia.

The "Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders" (DSM) is due to be publishing the fifth edition in May 2013.  As mental health professionals eagerly await the publication, those in the eating disorder specialization are among them.  The National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA) is most excited about the change in the DSM-5, moving Binge Eating Disorder (BED) from something previously mentioned in Appendix B as a topic for further discussion, to a recognized illness.  This change can prove to be significant for many reasons.