Atypical eating disorders.

Some patients with eating disorders have neither anorexia nervosa (A.N.) nor bulimia. Cases which do not rigorously meet the DSM-III-R criteria for anorexia nervosa or for bulimia are usually defined as "eating disorders N.O.S." Among them are patients with pathological characteristics very closely related to the above-mentioned categories. Others, however, although affected by an eating disorder, present a quite different clinical picture from either A.N. or bulimia. In a study of 80 eating disorder cases, only 45 met the strict definition of A.N. or bulimia. The other 35 were diagnosed as atypical eating disorders and are the focus of this presentation. 29 were classified as Eating Disorders N.O.S. and 6 as obesity. Co-morbidity, gender and age data, and clinical vignettes are presented.