Treatment varies by disorder and may involve counseling, dietary advice, reducing excessive exercise, and the reduction of efforts to eliminate food. Medications may be used to help with some of the associated symptoms. Hospitalization may be needed in more serious cases. About 70% of people with anorexia and 50% of people with bulimia recover within five years. Only 10% of people with eating disorders receive treatment, and of those, approximately 80% do not receive the proper care. Many are sent home weeks earlier than the recommended stay and are not provided with the necessary treatment. Recovery from binge eating disorder is less clear and estimated at 20% to 60%. Both anorexia and bulimia increase the risk of death. When people experience comorbidity with an eating disorder and OCD, certain aspects of treatment can be negatively impacted. OCD can make it harder to recover from obsession over weight and shape, body dissatisfaction, and body checking.This is impart because ED cognitions serve a similar purpose to OCD obsessions and compulsions (e.g., safety behaviors as temporary relief from anxiety). Research shows OCD does not have an impact on the BMI of patients during treatment.Estimates of the prevalence of eating disorders vary widely, reflecting differences in gender, age, and culture as well as methods used for diagnosis and measurement. In the developed world, anorexia affects about 0.4% and bulimia affects about 1.3% of young women in a given year. Binge eating disorder affects about 1.6% of women and 0.8% of men in a given year.
For a BED diagnosis to be given, marked distress regarding binge eating must be present, and the binge eating must occur an average of once a week for 3 months. Severity of BED is determined by the number of binge eating episodes per week. Pica is the persistent eating of nonnutritive, nonfood substances in a way that is not developmentally appropriate or culturally supported. Although substances consumed vary with age and availability, paper, soap, hair, chalk, paint, and clay are among the most commonly consumed in those with a pica diagnosis. There are multiple causes for the onset of pica, including iron-deficiency anemia, malnutrition, and pregnancy, and pica often occurs in tandem with other mental health disorders associated with impaired function, such as intellectual disability, autism spectrum disorder, and schizophrenia. In order for a diagnosis of pica to be warranted, behaviors must last for at least one month. Rumination disorder encompasses the repeated regurgitation of food, which may be re-chewed, re-swallowed, or spit out. For this diagnosis to be warranted, behaviors must persist for at least one month, and regurgitation of food cannot be attributed to another medical condition. Additionally, rumination disorder is distinct from AN, BN, BED, and ARFID, and thus cannot occur during the course of one of these illnesses. Avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID) is a feeding or eating disturbance, such as a lack of interest in eating food, avoidance based on sensory characteristics of food, or concern about aversive consequences of eating, that prevents one from meeting nutritional energy needs.