What is Binge Eating Disorder?

Background

Eating problems are very common in western nations. For the last fifty years, it has been fashionable to be extremely thin, yet we have more food available to us than at any other time in history. Diets abound, and many competing, conflicting theories about food are promoted. Is it any wonder that many people develop an unhealthy attitude towards food?

Binge eating has received less study than other disorders like anorexia, perhaps because binge eating is not immediately life threatening. Studies of bulimia, closely related to binge eating disorder, began at the end of the 1970s. Binge eating disorder as a separate entity first began to get serious study in the late 1980s.

What Constitutes a Binge?

Nearly all of us occasionally overeat if we are given the opportunity. When does the line get crossed? What constitutes a problem as opposed to an occasional lapse? The American Psychiatric Association defines a binge-eating episode as:

1. 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,
   
2. [having] 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).

The Four Main Traits of Binge Eating Disorder

It is important to know when a slight problem with binge eating becomes a binge eating disorder. What characterizes a sufferer?

Firstly, and most importantly, is an unhealthy attitude towards food. Interestingly, the majority of sufferers attempt to stick to some sort of diet. These can range from excluding certain ‘forbidden’ foods such as ice cream and chocolate, to ‘starvation’ diets where almost nothing is eaten. Food thus becomes the central focus of many sufferers’ lives. While not bingeing, their constant focus is on not eating the ‘forbidden’ food. Many have an all-or-nothing, perfectionist approach. If they have eaten one ‘forbidden’ item, they reason that they may as well begin a full binge.

Secondly, there are negative feelings surrounding every binge episode. Many sufferers report an enormous sense of anxiety shortly before beginning a binge. Rarely is any effort expended on the preparation of the food. When eating begins, the effect is initially calming, and even pleasurable. This is quickly replaced by disgust, and a feeling of loss of control. Some binge eaters report that they enter a trance-like state while the binge is completed. Afterwards, there is commonly a sense of disgust and guilt.

Thirdly, the amount of food consumed is large. Anorexics often report that they have binged, when in fact the amount of food is very small. This is known as a subjective binge. A sufferer of binge eating disorder, on the other hand, will most often eat more than the average person would or could in a single session (see definition above). This is known as an objective binge. Furthermore, the speed at which food is ingested is generally very high.

Finally, secretiveness about the act can come to be pervasive. Many sufferers will keep their bingeing secret even from family members. Some avoid social situations where food will be present. They feel that their bingeing is distasteful, and must be kept under wraps at all cost. Tragically, many sufferers believe that no one else is going through the same thing as them.

Copyright 2008 Mental Disorder Network
All rights reserved.