Achalasia mistakenly diagnosed as eating disorder and prompting prolonged psychiatric hospitalization.

We have reported a rather extreme instance in which achalasia was misdiagnosed as a primary eating disorder. Our patient spent 2 months in a psychiatric institution before the correct diagnosis was made. Misdiagnosis in this case could have been avoided (1) if the symptoms of dysphagia had been elicited as part of her history, (2) if it had been recognized that the vomiting (her dominant symptom) was involuntary and not self-induced, (3) if the absence of disturbed body image had been appreciated, or (4) if it had been recognized that she did not meet accepted criteria for anorexia nervosa or bulimia. Our case and others like it in the literature also illustrate that achalasia frequently remains an elusive diagnosis.