Binge Eating Notes to Therapists and Clients

Our clients report the subjective sense of impaired control during episodes of overeating and any number of the following symptoms:

• Eating much more rapidly than normal
• Eating until uncomfortably full
• Eating large amounts of food, even when not physically hungry
• Eating alone out of embarrassment at the quantity of food being consumed
• Feelings of disgust, depression or guilt with overeating
• Continuing the cycle of overeating while believing that tomorrow they will have a fresh start on todays binge
• Becoming disembodied from the experience of the unhealthy foods they are feeding their bodies and minds
• An increased experience of unworthiness and poor self image in their personal, professional and social worlds

The primary goals of treatment should include:

• Recognizing the strategies and patterns of the problem
• Recognizing perfectionism and “all or nothing” thinking
• Reducing self-blame by separating the person from the problem
• Recognizing the cultural context that encourages binge-eating
• Identifying physical vs. emotional hunger
• Increasing capacity to tolerate feeling states (ie: identifying stress-driven eating habits)
• Acknowledging your pre-existing knowledge of health and nutrition and putting this wisdom to work in new ways
• Learning how to speak your unspoken needs to others and to yourself so that the need to “feed” and cover up the emptiness and anxiety is lessened over time
• Improving body image and learning self-care
• Identifying that eating slip-ups lead to a binge and an “I’ll start tomorrow” negative pattern of thinking
• Recognizing recovery as a “process” of patience and positive thinking
• Identifying and resolving depression, anxiety and fears that affect the problem
• Offering alternative emotional options and possibilities
• Involvement of family and friends
• Keeping a diary of all the destructive strategies and tricks the inner conversations of emotional eating suggest as solutions
• Keeping a diary of all the times you could have given way to the binge eating tactic but somehow were able to act on your own behalf and towards health