[Eating disorders: anorexia nervosa, bulimia, binge eating].

We present an overview of three different eating disorders which seem to have an increasing prevalence, especially among young women between 12 and 20 years of age. Anorexia and bulimia nervosa are "threshold disorders" which usually become manifest for the first time during the transition from childhood to early adult life. Eating disorders are chronic disorders and often take a course of 6 or more years. Remission, improvements and symptom change can be expected even after many years of the disorder. Psychiatric comorbidity which occurs in more than 50% of eating disordered patients is of prime importance for prognosis. Depression, anxiety disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorders, and personality disorders are most common. There is a variety of complex in- and outpatient treatments with different components which have to be chosen according to the individual case.