In this issue, several articles turn to better ways to define less frequently seen eating disorders. Two examples are OSFED, or Other Specified Feeding or Eating Disorders, and ARFID, or avoidant restrictive food intake disorder.
The DSM-5 category for OSFED includes a number of subcategories, including atypical anorexia nervosa, purging disorder, night eating syndrome, and subthreshold bulimia nervosa and binge eating disorder. Researchers from the University of Melbourne and Murdoch Children’s Research Institute have drawn attention to the fact that current OSFED diagnostic criteria fall short of accurately describing these conditions, and have overlapping symptoms that can be misleading (see the article elsewhere in this issue).
Another challenge is inpatient management of younger patients with ARFID. A group in Boston developed a standardized inpatient clinical pathway to help guide use of psychiatric, psychological and social work consulting for these young patients (see “ARFID and Hospital Admittance of Children and Teens” elsewhere in this issue).
Finally, a research group in Italy has described their use of virtual reality to reduce anxiety and fear among a group of AN patients. The technique was helpful, although an unexpected drawback was the virtual reality program’s use of unpleasant avatars. Summer and innovation march on in eating disorders research.
— MKS
