Eating disorders are complicated illnesses. Pediatrician Eva Trujillo says they "literally rewire the brain," decrease brain size, and make it harder to concentrate and to regulate emotions.

Eating disorders can cause serious health problems for children and teens. Early recognition and early treatment are the best ways to avoid these problems. Here is what to watch for.

Autistic disorder. This older term is further along the autism spectrum than Asperger’s and PDD-NOS. It includes the same types of symptoms, but at a more intense level.

Asperger’s syndrome is no longer a stand-alone diagnosis. It’s now part of the autism spectrum disorder (ASD). In other words, people with signs and symptoms of Asperger’s receive an ASD ...

By 2013, with the publication of DSM-5, Asperger’s syndrome had been dropped as a category and folded into the more general category of "autism spectrum disorder"; terms such as “level 1 ...

Key points "Asperger's syndrome" was introduced as a diagnostic category in the DSM-IV in 1994. It was replaced in 2013 with the all-encompassing "autism spectrum disorder." ...

Between 1994 and 2013, autistic disorder and Asperger’s disorder were the two primary diagnoses related to autism in the fourth edition of the manual, the DSM-4.

Previous research has found that autism and eating disorders can occur together, as 20-30% of adults with eating disorders have autism, and 3-10% of children and young people with eating disorders ...

One in four people with an eating disorder may have autism according to some experts, which can mean they aren't receiving the right type of treatment. This was the case for 20-year-old Kayla ...

Recently a new doctor asked Carrie if her daughter was on the spectrum. "Maybe if she is on the spectrum, then maybe the eating disorder is a direct result of her anxiety," she said. At a cost of ...