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Listing 12.13

Eating disorders

This listing covers eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, binge-eating disorder, and avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder.

Read the full plain-language explanation

SSA requires medical documentation of a persistent alteration in eating behavior that significantly harms physical or psychological health (paragraph A) AND serious limits in daily mental functioning (paragraph B). Both A and B are required.

Read Listing 12.13 on ssa.gov

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What Listing 12.13 asks for

What SSA looks for — see the 2 items

We will check your records against each of these. Every item comes straight from SSA's own listing.

  • Your medical records must document an ongoing change in how you eat — restricting food, binging, purging, or similar — that changes how much food you take in or absorb, and that significantly harms your physical or mental health.

    (Listing 12.13, criterion A)

    • Your condition must also cause an 'extreme' limit in one, or a 'marked' (serious) limit in two, of these areas: understanding and using information, getting along with others, staying focused and keeping pace, or managing yourself.
    • Both A and B are required.
    Read the original wording

    Your condition must also cause an 'extreme' limit in one, or a 'marked' (serious) limit in two, of these areas: understanding and using information, getting along with others, staying focused and keeping pace, or managing yourself. Both A and B are required.

    (Listing 12.13, criterion B)

How long it must last:

No listing-specific duration language; the general requirement applies — the impairment must have lasted or be expected to last at least 12 continuous months.