To the Editor:

Re “Go Ahead. Eat Your Holiday Feelings,” by Christy Harrison (Sunday Review, Nov. 24):

“Emotional eating” is when you are hungry from the heart, not the stomach. There is a large spectrum of problematic eating behavior: overeating, compulsive overeating, binge eating, bulimia, self-starvation, laxative abuse, orthorexia (an obsession with eating foods that one believes are healthy), compulsive exercise and chronic dieting.

No matter where people fall on the spectrum — from an 80-pound anorexic to a 450-pound binge-eater — their relationship with food and their bodies is fueled and driven by emotions too hard to digest: depression, anxiety, frozen grief, trauma, anger, sexual abuse, feelings of abandonment and rejection.

Ms. Harrison tries to normalize the humanity of overeating: We all do it, and it is often fueled by restrictive dieting and undereating. But she does not go far enough. She minimizes the truth that many people suffer from eating disorders that are psychiatric disorders and require a full scope of treatment interventions, including nutrition support, psychotherapy and sometimes medication for depression and anxiety.

And let’s remember: Everyone’s eating problem is as unique as a fingerprint. One size does not fit all.