Binge Eating Disorders

What are binge eating disorders and for that matter, what is binge eating? For some a binge is an occasional indiscretion, while for others it is a serious problem that has a profound negative impact on their lives. It is my hope that this site will help to illuminate the distinction between binge eating disorders and less complex eating problems.

The American Psychiatric Association describes a binge as follows:

Eating, in a discrete period of time (e.g., within any two hour period), an amount of food that is definitely larger than most people would eat during a similar period of time and under similar circumstances, and,

A sense of lack of control over eating during the episode (e.g., a feeling that one cannot stop eating or control what or how much one is eating.

For most people, a binge simply means eating to excess. Binge and binge eating disorder are also technical terms that are used in the clinical and research literature on eating disorders. and they refer to a particular form of overeating. Their usage has become common in the population at large and for purposes of this discussion binge eating used by the general public is the same as compulsive eating, compulsive overeating, and emotional eating.

See my interview with Karen Koenig, LCSW, M.Ed. for a more detailed discussion of the meaning of these terms.

Compulsive Overeating

BINGE EATING DISORDER (also known as COMPULSIVE OVEREATING) is characterized primarily by periods of uncontrolled, impulsive, or continuous eating beyond the point of feeling comfortably full. While there is no purging, there may be sporadic fasts or repetitive diets and often feelings of shame or self-hatred after a binge.

People who overeat compulsively may struggle with anxiety, depression, and loneliness, which can contribute to their unhealthy episodes of binge eating. Body weight may vary from normal to mild, moderate, or severe obesity.

It is a common misconception that all people with binge eating disorders are overweight. They are not. Most people who binge also diet. Some of the characteristics exhibited by those with disordered eating are:

Eating even when not hungry
Loss of control over eating
Repeated diet failure
Use of food to deal with feelings
Use of food as comfort
Obsessed with thoughts of food
Binge eating episodes
Feelings of shame
Feelings of guilt after eating
Eating in secret
Belief in "good" and "bad" foods
Food interferes with health
Food interferes with quality of life

Most people who binge do not have an eating problem or an eating disorder. They binge infrequently, the binge does not involve extremely large quantities of food and it does not impair their quality of life.

But there are people whose eating does interfere with their quality of life, some to a greater or lesser degree than others. The binge eating may be frequent, may cause them distress, and may affect physical health. These people have an eating problem and are demonstrating symptoms of eating disorders.

References

Fairburn, Christopher G. Overcoming Binge Eating. New York: Guilford Press, 1995.

National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA) www.nationaleatingdisorders.org retrieved 06/08/2010

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