While most nurses are familiar with anorexia and bulimia, how many nurses have heard of compulsive overeating, also known as binge eating? This is not a new condition but the medical profession has been very slow to recognize it as a problem, let alone as an eating disorder. This article looks at the different types of eating disorders, their differences, how to identify sufferers and where to refer them. Identifying patients with eating disorders is a very hard task since sufferers have learned the art of secrecy, denial and deception.