Binge eating disorder (BED) is diagnosed according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) criteria, which include:

1. Recurrent episodes of binge eating, characterized by:
   1. Eating, in a discrete period of time (e.g., within any 2-hour period), an amount of food that is definitely larger than most people would eat in a similar period of time under similar circumstances.
   2. A sense of lack of control over eating during the episode (e.g., a feeling that one cannot stop eating or control what or how much one is eating).
2. Binge-eating episodes are associated with three (or more) of the following:
   1. Eating much more rapidly than normal.
   2. Eating until feeling uncomfortably full.
   3. Eating large amounts of food when not feeling physically hungry.
   4. Eating alone because of feeling embarrassed by how much one is eating.
   5. Feeling disgusted with oneself, depressed, or very guilty afterward.
3. Marked distress regarding binge eating is present.
4. Binge eating occurs, on average, at least once a week for three months.
5. The binge eating is not associated with recurrent use of inappropriate compensatory behavior (e.g., purging) as in bulimia nervosa and does not occur exclusively during the course of bulimia nervosa or anorexia nervosa.
6. The binge eating is not better accounted for by another mental disorder (e.g., binge eating episodes occur exclusively during the course of anorexia nervosa).

These criteria are used by mental health professionals to diagnose binge eating disorder.