An eating disorder is very different from dieting. While dieting is a balanced eating pattern that a person follows to achieve a healthy body, an eating disorder is a psychologically based disorder that affects a person's life physiologically, psychologically, and sociologically. No specific cause is known for eating disorders. Eating and eating disorders significantly impact not only the individual but also their family and close circle. A lack of self-confidence is thought to be one of the primary causes of eating disorders. Essentially, individuals with eating and eating disorders attempt to control their lives and emotions by eating or not eating. This is often related to how insecure they feel about their lives and surroundings. The fact that eating disorders are more common in women highlights the importance of feminine psychology.

Pica

It's the persistent consumption of a non-nutritive substance (paper, hair, paint, soap, ash, clay, etc.) that has no nutritional value for at least one month. This habit of eating non-nutritive substances is incompatible with the individual's developmental level. While more common in children, it can occur in all age groups.

Rumination disorder

It's a condition in which a person frequently regurgitates food for at least a month. The regurgitated food may be rechewed, reswallowed, or spit out. Frequent regurgitation is not due to a concomitant gastrointestinal disease or another medical condition (reflux, pyloric stenosis, etc.).

Avoidant/Restricted food intake disorder

Significant weight loss, significant weight loss, or dependence on enteral (tube-assisted) nutrition or oral nutritional supplements. This results in a significant decline in the individual's psychological and social functioning.

Bulimia nervosa

Recurrent episodes of binge eating, characterized by eating an amount of food that is clearly larger than most people would eat in a similar period of time under similar circumstances, and during which time there is a sense of loss of control over eating (the feeling that the person is unable to stop eating).

It is characterized by recurrent excessive compensatory behaviors, such as self-induced vomiting, misuse of laxatives, diuretics, or other medications to avoid weight gain, or by eating almost nothing or exercising excessively. The criteria for diagnosing bulimia nervosa are for both binge eating episodes and compensatory behaviors to occur at least once a week for three months.