DSM-III, draft DSM-III-R, and the diagnosis and prevalence of bulimia in Australia

A self-report questionnaire for bulimic symptoms was administered to three different groups of community residents and to patients in a hospital's weight disorders unit and its dietetics department. The prevalence of DSM-III bulimia was 12.7% among female community residents, while the prevalence of draft DSM-III-R bulimia was 1.7%. The questionnaire, scored to reflect DSM-III, categorized as bulimic large numbers of patients who were not given that diagnosis by clinicians. The draft DSM-III-R criteria seemed more closely aligned to clinical experience.