Beyond Picky Eating: Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder

Disorders related to ingesting adequate variety and amounts of food, often dichotomized into feeding or eating disorders, depending on the need for affected individuals to be fed or to eat on their own respectively, include a wide variety of conditions. This paper focuses on disorders that are not also associated with behaviors related to weight-control or self-concept strongly influenced by body weight or shape, as seen in anorexia nervosa or bulimia nervosa. In contrast to eating disorders, there is a relatively sparse body of literature, inconsistent and confusing set of terms and definitions, and conflicting classification schemes applied to feeding/eating disturbances. A new scheme is proposed to improve clinical utility and include individuals who experience morbidities that could benefit from diagnosis and treatment, but are presently excluded from classification. Key research findings are highlighted, and core clinical features regarding diagnosis and treatment are detailed. Two illustrative cases frame the clinical aspects of these conditions.