What is OSFED?
OSFED or Other Specified Feeding or Eating Disorder is a classification used by mental health professionals to describe a range of eating behaviours that don’t fit specific criteria for other eating disorders. This doesn’t mean that their illness should be taken any less seriously. People with OSFED still present with disturbed eating patterns and need to seek help from a health professional as soon as possible.
Diagnosis
Individuals with OSFED may display symptoms such as restrictive eating patterns, recurrent episodes of binge eating and purging behaviours or a combination of these. Sometimes a diagnosis might be offered such as:
Atypical Anorexia Nervosa: Where all criteria are met for anorexia, except significant weight loss. The individual’s weight might be within or above the normal range.
Binge eating disorder of low frequency and/or limited duration: When all BED criteria are met, but binges happen less frequently or have been occurring for less than three months.
Bulimia nervosa of low frequency and/or limited duration: When a person has all the symptoms of bulimia but the binge eating, and subsequent purging occurs at a lower frequency and/or for less than three months.
Chewing and spitting: This is characterised by individuals chewing food and then spitting it out without swallowing. They may chew the food for the taste and texture but avoid the actual consumption of calories by spitting it out.
Purging disorder: This is when a person does not appear to binge or restrict food but still uses self-induced vomiting or laxatives to influence their weight.
Night eating syndrome: When someone consumes a significant portion of daily calorific intake during the late evening and nighttime hours. Sometimes individuals wake up during the night to eat or consume a lot of food just before going to bed, after their evening meal.
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