I was reading a blog today about binge eating and how that's being included in the next DSM and loved this paragraph I think is germane:

"It will be great if including this new diagnosis of Binge Eating in the DSM prompts more awareness and more research to improve our understanding of this very real problem, and also gets insurance companies to support treatment. But we all need to remember that no person is just a diagnosis, and that no diagnosis provides a complete explanation for why people do what they do. No one binge eats because they fit the diagnostic criteria for "binge eating disorder." We do it for our own reasons, and those can be identified and changed. And we all have strengths and capacities we can draw on, with the right encouragement and support, to understand our problems, learn how to handle them better, and make choices that will help us feel capable and empowered. Sometimes, calling something a "mental disorder" can make it easy to forget those basic facts."

From: http://www.dailyspark.com/blog.asp?p...ental_disorder