dysfunctional eating

Eating behaviors that (a) have purposes different from that of nourishing oneself (e.g., relieving stress or reshaping one’s body), (b) are not regulated by physical hunger or satiety, and (c) do not conform to American Psychiatric Association criteria for any specific eating disorder. Dysfunctional eating encompasses consistent overeating and consistent undereating. Author Frances M. Berg, M.S., coined the expression in 1997.