Binge - emotional eating recognized as disorder

from: http://voiceofrussia.com/radio_broadcast/no_program/274505829/

The American Psychiatric Association only recently recognized binge eating disorder as a diagnosable condition. It defines binge eating as "recurring episodes of eating significantly more food in a short period of time than most people would eat under similar circumstances, with episodes marked by feelings of lack of control."

Binge eating is different from occasionally overeating: it is a systematic, recurrent pattern that is associated with significant physical and psychological problems. Its onset usually occurs later than that of other eating disorders, according to Leanne Thorndyke, head of communications at BEAT - UK’s leading charity organization supporting people affected by eating disorders:

“Binge eating disorder has over the years been a growing problem. Until the changes to the diagnostic criteria it was in sort of a residual group of a whole range of different things that didn’t really fit anywhere else. So now it is a recognized eating disorder in its own right. It affects people who are slightly older, maybe in their 30’s or 40’s. There is also an even split between the affected men and women, whereas sometimes some of the other eating disorders tend to affect more women.”

People with binge eating disorder often have a mental obsession with food, weight, diet or body image. The illness has a profound effect on a person's self-esteem, relationships, finances, daily activities, and quality of life. Sufferers often become depressed or anxious because of their eating patterns and then get stuck in a never-ending cycle, trying to “eat their grief away,” Leanne Thorndyke said.

For people with binge eating disorder, it’s important to pinpoint the exact feelings or thoughts that are getting suppressed by food, Theresa Kinsella, a New York-based registered dietitian specializing in eating disorders, noted:

“Most of the time emotional eating, or binge eating, is a red flag that someone is not getting their emotional needs met. But often someone is not aware of what those emotional needs are. So we try to use the symptomatic eating as a sign, a positive sign, that there is some potential learning about what emotional needs aren’t getting met,” Theresa Kinsella said.

Binge eating is a lot like drug addiction. For the successful treatment of the disorder it is critical to identify why a person is turning to food or to the obsessive thoughts of disordered eating. Many times there are unresolved traumas or a lifetime of abandoning their self, feelings or emotions. According to a study published in the Archives of General Psychiatry, treatment programs with cognitive behavioral therapy are significantly more effective in treating binge eating disorder than weight loss programs. To fully recover from binge eating a person must always deal with the underlying, internal causes of the disorder firs
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