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Binge eating disorder (BED) is one of the most prevalent eating disorders, with many people caught in a difficult cycle of negative thoughts and difficult emotions. It can often be a secretive or shameful thing to talk about, so that’s why it’s important we do talk about it! Whether someone has a diagnosis or not, binge eating can have a huge impact on a person’s life. So let’s dive into what binge eating is, the binge cycle, and most importantly, what can help stop binge eating. Diagnostic criteria According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5), the diagnostic criteria for Binge Eating Disorder (BED) involves:
What is a binge cycle? A binge cycle, similar to a diet cycle, is a pattern of behaviour, thoughts and feelings which keep people trapped in disordered eating cycles. It often involves periods of restriction, followed by binges, followed by difficult emotions such as guilt and shame. This isn’t the case for everyone as different people experience binge eating in different ways, this is based more on those who diet or restrict in some way as that becomes part of the driver for binge eating. Here is an example of the binge/diet cycle and some thought processes that may be happening throughout:  Copyright Mel Ciavucco 2024 Sometimes there can be a trigger, or a number of triggers, for each binge episode, such as a stressful day at work, a bad body image day, a difficult event, or even just boredom. For people with ADHD, they may particularly be seeking dopamine hits (i.e. a feel-good hit) to cope through the day. Food is a common way to seek pleasure, for those who don’t binge eat too. Often emotional times and stress in life impact the ways we eat – some people turn to food, others are turned off food. It can be helpful to understand your processes and try to approach this with less self-judgement. Sometimes it’s not about the amount of biscuits you eat, but more how you feel about it after. Enjoying some biscuits to comfort yourself is completely okay, if you allow yourself them you’re more likely to enjoy them instead of feeling terrible guilt after. Guilt and shame Oh, the post-binge guilt! It can be such a crushing, horrible feeling. During a binge, many people can just feel numb and zone out, or others may feel enjoyment, or a freedom and even exhilaration. But it’s usually after (though this is different for different people) that the difficult emotions set in… guilt, shame, disgust, fear, anxiety, self-hatred. This can lead to feeling in a really dark place; the self-blame, negative thoughts, anger, frustration and more. It’s a horrible, painful, process. And it’s this that leads into the cycle again, with thoughts which may sound like “I’m not allowed to eat again now”, or “diet starts Monday”, or “I’ve got to be good”, or “I hate myself”. This leads back into restriction again, and then the cycle repeats. So, how do we break the cycle? It can be difficult to do this alone, so therapy, support groups, helplines, perhaps also nutrition support (from a non-diet nutritionist or dietitian) can be helpful. In my experience as a therapist working with people who binge eat, initially it can be helpful for a client just to unburden on someone who “gets it”. Many people are holding binge eating as their “secret” as it can feel embarrassing to talk to others about it. There is a lot of stigma around binge eating, especially for people at higher weights who may have had pressure on them to diet and who likely experience weight stigma. Firstly, to legitimise that this is an incredibly difficult thing that is likely having an impact on your life and mental health. It’s not about being weak or having no willpower, and it’s certainly not your fault. For those who diet, it can be helpful to learn about the harms of diet culture and to look at anti-diet and intuitive eating approaches. Further weight loss attempts will only keep the cycle going, so giving up dieting can be important, which might be quite a terrifying idea for some, understandably! There may be some body acceptance work to be done if body image is an issue, and/or an unlearning of thin ideals and diet culture, but there are plenty of resources available now to help on this journey (I’ve included some recommendations at the end). Working on the fear of fatness or fear of weight gain in therapy can be important, and the deeper rooted narratives and experiences influencing this. Research has often been based on using Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) for binge eating, as this can help challenge the thoughts, feelings and behaviours. I’m personally trained in an Integrative way, which means I draw on theories from CBT as well as person-centred, humanistic and psychodynamic modalities and other theories too. It also means I can adapt my way of working to best suit clients as everyone has different learning and communication needs, which is especially important as I work with many individuals with autism and ADHD. To break the cycle of binge eating, there can be underlying factors which need to be explored, so it can be helpful in therapy to explore childhood and body image/eating experiences in the early years. How we learn to eat and how we see our bodies is influenced by social and cultural factors, plus the media (TV, films, social media etc) and by socio-economic factors such as food scarcity (growing up with little food available can lead to binge eating in later life). Family narratives and caregivers’ relationships with food also have an impact, as children can learn to calorie count or diet from an early age which then becomes the “norm”. There may have been difficult childhood experiences or trauma which influenced the need for a coping mechanism (binge eating). It’s never just one thing that leads to binge eating, or any eating disorder, it’s a complex mix of factors which is why exploring the bigger picture is so important. Often body image and disordered eating issues are linked to deeper-rooted self-worth issues, which is why therapy can be so important in helping those who binge eat. Understanding the underlying factors, as well as working to break the binge cycle, and learning new strategies and tools for managing emotions is all important to help recover from binge eating. If you’d like more information on my counselling service, please click here. To enquire about availability for counselling sessions please contact me through my contact form. Book recommendations What We Don’t Talk About When We Talk About Fat, and “You Just Need to Lose Weight": And 19 Other Myths About Fat People, both by Aubrey Gordon (also podcast, Maintenance Phase and documentary, Your Fat Friend) Eating Disorders Do Not Discriminate by Dr Chukwuemeka Nwuba and Bailey Spinn Beyond the Shadow of a Diet by Judith Matz and Ellen Frankel Just Eat It by Laura Thomas Anti-diet by Christie Harrison (also podcast, Food Psych) The Body Is Not an Apology by Sonya Renee Taylor
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