Emotional Eating Beyond Obesity: A Transdiagnostic Conceptual Analysis of Phenotyping, Measurement, and Priorities for Clinical Validation

Background

The concept of emotional eating (EE) originates in the early psychosomatic accounts of overeating, but its nosological status remains contested more than four decades after it was first scientifically explored. Although neither the DSM-5-TR nor the ICD-11 recognizes EE as a discrete entity, clinically significant presentations of EE are described in the literature and can currently be captured under residual diagnostic categories in the absence of specific criteria.