What You Need To Know About Binge-eating Disorder?

 
                 Binge-Eating Disorder

 

We all like to eat. And on some occasions like wedding, party or holiday meals we sometimes eat more than usual. It’s very common to many people and it’s normal to eat more in sometimes.

But there are some people who not only eat in some occasion but also eat more in normal times. They overeat all times and it seems that they don’t have a control over their eating.

And it becomes regular that they eat likes this. These people are suffering from a disorder which is called Binge-Eating Disorder (BED). They feel embarrassed to eat like this and want to stop but they feel such a compulsion that they can’t resist eating.

So, today we will know all the basic information that will be helpful for us in learning about this disorder. We will know

• What Binge-eating disorder is
• Causes and Risk factors
• Signs and Symptoms
• Diagnosis and
• Treatment of Binge-eating disorder

Let’s start our today’s topic.

 
What Is Binge-Eating Disorder

Binge eating disorder is mainly an eating disorder. It is referred as repeated binge eating periods (eating a lot) with some negative social and psychological problems. It occurs without the compensatory behaviors that are common to bulimia or binge-purge subtype of anorexia nervosa.

In this type of disorder they eat a lot but they don’t use any techniques to lose weight. That’s why many people who are suffering from this are seemed to be overweight.

And people mainly develop this kind of eating disorder because they connect eating food as a way of dealing with some psychological conditions such as depression or anxiety.

And they eat a lot of food in a short period of times. During eating they feel a kind of relief but after eating they experience feeling of shame or loss of control. They often feel distress and unhappiness about their body shape and weight.

Binge eating disorder mainly starts in adolescence or young adulthood. There is not much gender difference in developing this disorder.

 

Causes and Risk factors

Like many other eating disorders the actual causes of binge eating disorder are not known. Researchers are trying to find out those causes. But there are some factors which are believed to be causes of the disorder.

The risk factors are

  Family history

If your family members have a history of having an eating disorder then there is a possibility that you can develop this disorder.

  Psychological Issues

Some people have negative perceptions about themselves. They feel they are inferior to others. So these thought can trigger for eating disorder. Some of them can have phobias, depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety or post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

  Dieting

The people who are suffering from binge have a history of dieting. Restricting foods can increase the trigger to eat food a lot in one time.

  Changes in Brain

The changes in the brain areas can also increased the risk to eat a lot of food and less self control.

  Body size and image

It is seen that many people who are suffering from this disorder has weight problems like they are overweight. And many have negative thought of body image. These can increase the risk of getting the disorder.

  Traumatic experiences

Many traumatic experiences like abuse, death of a loved one, separation from the family or any kind of accident can play a role.

 

Signs and Symptoms

There are some common signs and symptoms which can be found in most of the person who is suffering from binge eating disorder. If anyone is having these symptoms then he/she should consult for professional help.

The common behavioral and emotional symptoms are

• always eating a large amount of food in a specific time like eating after every 2 hours.
• eating even when one is full or not even hungry
• always try to eat alone or in a secret
• eating fast in binge periods
• try to do dieting without weight loss
• don’t stop eating until you are not feeling uncomfortable
• always feel that one’s eating behavior is out of control
• feel disgusted, depressed, upset about eating behavior.

The person who is suffering from binge doesn’t try to compensate like bulimia. They simply do dieting or eat normal meals but doing dieting increase the more binge eating.

 

Diagnosis of Binge eating disorder

If you think that you are having the symptoms of Binge eating disorder, then you should really talk to a professional. Then your medical care can give you some physical and psychological test to diagnose it.

The physical tests can include heart, blood test and also ask you about your eating habits like how much you eat or how often you eat to understand the situations.

Professional mental health worker will try to check your symptoms with the criteria described by DSM-5. According to DSM-5, the binge eating disorder should have these criteria. They are

1.   repeated binge-eating episodes

2.   in binge eating episodes must include at least 3 of these features

     absence of hunger

     unusual fast eating

uncomfortable fullness

try to eat in secret due to shame

feelings of self-disgust, depression or severe guilt

3.   binge eating episodes should take place at least weekly over the course of 3 months.

4.   there should be no compensatory behaviors like bulimia

5.   hamper normal life

 

Treatment for Binge-eating Disorder

There is a chance to get normal life if you get treatment early for binge-eating disorder. And the main purposes of treatment are to reduce eating binges and try to develop healthy eating habits. Here both psychotherapy and medications work well.

    Psychotherapy

Both individual and group therapy can help. It helps to change unhealthy thoughts and develop healthy thoughts.

1.   Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT)

This therapy helps one to cope better with issues that are related to binge eating disorder. It mainly helps to change negative thoughts like negative feelings about one’s body into positive thoughts.

2.   Dialectical behavior therapy

This type of therapy helps one to learn behavioral skills to help one to tolerate stress and anxiety, regulate one’s emotions and improve one’s eating habits to cope a better life.

3.   Interpersonal psychotherapy

It is mainly works to focus one’s relationship with other people. Its main goal is to help one’s improve their interpersonal skills. By improving relationship with family and friends it helps to reduce binge eating which is triggered by many problematic relationships.

4.   Weight loss therapy

Its main goal is to help people to lose weight and by doing this one can reduce binge eating behavior by helping them to improve self-esteem and body image. It includes diet and exercise.

     Medications

It is found that there is no current medications for binge eating disorder which can be as effective as psychotherapy. Some medications are used like antidepressants, antiepileptic drugs ( topiramate).

 

So that is it for today’s topic. I think it will help you a little to understand what binge-eating disorder is and how we can cope with it. See you in the next post. Thank you.

Sources

Binge-Eating Disorder: Anxiety Disorders. In: Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders DSM-5. 5th ed. Arlington, Va.: American Psychiatric Association; 2013.