Twelve women with bulimia participated in a study in which they binged and vomited on the day after hospital admission. Caloric intake, time spent bingeing and vomiting, and selfreported mood ratings demonstrated much variation from subject to subject. Both subjective and objective ratings of mood indicated that anxiety decreased more frequently and to a greater extent than depression, both during and after bingeing and vomiting. The present data, obtained in a controlled setting, tend to confirm previous information on binge episodes obtained by self-report from bulimic patients. Bingeing and vomiting episodes may provide bulimic patients with a physiological mechanism for temporarily relieving a dysphoric mood state.