An eating pattern consisting of gorging, alternating with dieting and purging is identified as a clinical problem in patients of normal weight, in the obese, and in patients with anorexia nervosa. The clinical reports have used a variety of names for this problem, and this has obscured the similarity between the various descriptions. Another perspective on the problem is offered by the experimental research on dietary restraint and counter-regulation. Counter-regulation, found in subjects from all weight groups who are restricting their food intake, is construed as a laboratory version of an eating binge. The clinical and experimental reports are combined to provide suggestions for the aetiology and treatment of the problem of binge eating.