Eating Disorders Indicators Test
You are here because one of your friends linked you to their Eating Disorders Indicators Test result:
Take the TestYour friend's results:
- Your friend's anorexia symptoms are high (62.5%).
- Your friend's bulimia symptoms are average (45%).
- Your friend's binge eating symptoms are very high (97.5%).
Explanation of Dimensions:
Anorexia
Anorexia, clinically termed anorexia nervosa, is an eating disorder characterized by abnormally low body weight (at least 15% less than their normal/ideal body weight), an intense fear of gaining weight, and a skewed sense of weight. Anorexia translates as "loss of appetite," yet this term is misleading because those who suffer from this condition frequently feel hungry but still refuse to eat. Anorexics put great emphasis on maintaining their weight and physical appearance, often by abstaining from food to the degree that seriously disrupts their day-to-day routine. They typically severely restrict their food intake to keep losing weight. No matter how much weight is lost, many anorexic people still feel anxiety about their weight and may even consider themselves fat while severely underweight.
Bulimia
Bulimia, also known as bulimia nervosa in the medical community, is a severe eating condition most frequently characterized by covertly binging on food and purging oneself. The latter is the forced way of unloading or removing the additional calories from one’s digestive system before properly processing. For instance, following a binge eating spree, bulimic people frequently self-induce vomiting, or abuse laxatives, diet pills, diuretics, or enemas. Fasting, tight dieting, or overexertion may also accompany bulimic symptomology. Since people with bulimia frequently worry about their weight and physical appearance, many hold harsh and critical opinions of themselves. Compared to anorexia, bulimia involves episodes of binge eating and subsequent purging, whereas anorexic people are more likely to entirely forgo eating, with no binge episodes to offset their undernourishment.
Binge Eating
People with binge eating tendencies repeatedly eat large amounts of food and feel they cannot stop throughout such episodes. Everyone occasionally overeats, but people with pronounced binge eating tendencies experience repeated excessive overeating sprees that spiral out of control. Those with significant binge eating tendencies often feel ashamed of their overeating and try to force themselves to stop. Still, many feel such a strong compulsion that they are powerless to control their urges and keep eating in excess against their conscious will. Frequent symptoms accompanying this condition are eating much faster than usual, consuming food until one is uncomfortably full, and eating a lot even though one is not physically hungry. People with binge eating symptoms may also eat alone because of embarrassment about how much they are consuming. Many with this condition feel sorry, depressed, or ashamed of themselves after binge eating episodes.
References
- Garner, D. M., Olmsted, M. P., Bohr, Y., & Garfinkel, P. E. (1982). The eating attitudes test: Psychometric features and clinical correlates. Psychological Medicine, 12(4), 871-878.
- Gleaves, D.H., Pearson, C.A., Ambwani, S. et al. Measuring eating disorder attitudes and behaviors: a reliability generalization study. J Eat Disord 2, 6 (2014).
- Rivas, T., Bersabé, R., Jiménez, M., & Berrocal, C. (2010). The Eating Attitudes Test (EAT-26): reliability and validity in Spanish female samples. The Spanish journal of psychology, 13(2), 1044–1056.