Binge Eating Support

Anxiety Disorders

 

Extreme anxiety or anxiety disorders, such as Generalized Anxiety Disorder or phobias, are common among those with eating problems.  It is possible that at times, a person with an anxiety disorder could seek comfort in food.

 

Other anxious behaviors and disorders are often found in people with BED.  Trichotillomania, a disorder where one feels compelled to pull their hair out, skin picking or nail biting are examples.

 

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

 

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder is technically a type of anxiety disorder.  Its features are very common in people with eating disorders. 

 

Most people think that OCD can only be about excessive hand-washing or checking that the door is locked numerous times.  Those sorts of behaviors are representative of OCD, but there are other types of OCD that are less well known, such as having disturbing or unwanted intrusive thoughts. Below are some of the symptoms of OCD:

 

• Obsessive checking- checking multiple times that the door is locked or checking that you turned off the iron 10 times.

• Uncontrollable, unwanted thoughts- such as a mother having graphic images of harming her child, even though she is not violent and is not angry at the child. The unwanted thoughts in OCD can take on any theme, but one thing they all have in common is that they are intrusive. Violent or sexually graphic images are common.

• Strong compulsion to do certain things, especially if they are ritualistic. These rituals are an attempt to soothe anxiety, but the relief never lasts long.

• Hoarding- refusing to throw anything away for fear of something bad happening.

• Obsessive cleanliness- this can be focused on someone’s body or their environment or both

• Obsession with doing certain things “just right” for fear of something bad happening if they don’t

• Obsessive counting of objects, arranging them so they’re symmetrical; obsessive superstitions about certain colors or numbers.

 

Many of us with BED are perfectionistic. Perfectionism in the extreme looks more and more similar to OCD behavior.

 

A disorder similar to OCD, called Obsessive Compulsive Personality Disorder, is associated with binge eating problems.

 

 

ADHD

 

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and Attention Deficit Disorder are common in people with eating problems.  Features of ADD/ADHD could worsen binge eating disorder symptoms.  For example, impulse control is extremely difficult for people with ADD/ADHD. So someone with BED and ADHD might have extreme difficulty controlling impulses. 

 

Personality Disorders, Especially Cluster B

 

Borderline Personality Disorder

 

Symptoms of borderline personality disorder include:

 

• Extreme mood swings

• Impulsiveness

• Intense and/or unstable relationships

• Feelings of abandonment, fear of abandonment

• Unstable sense of self- someone with BPD will take on the interests of their partner or friend.

 

Borderline personality disorder traits are common among people with BED or compulsive overeating. The lack of impulse control is more difficult to overcome. The intense feelings people with BPD are overwhelming, increasing the likelihood they might seek comfort in food.

 

 

Narcissistic Personality Disorder

 

Narcissists, like others with personality disorders, has poor impulse control. This makes her more vulnerable to binge eating or substance abuse. Other symptoms of NPD include:

 

• Thinking you’re better than everyone else

• Fantasizing about power, success and attractiveness

• Exaggerating your accomplishments

• Expecting constant praise and admiration

• Failure to recognize the feelings of other people

 

 

Histrionic Personality Disorder

 

People with histrionic personality disorder have difficulty with impulse control, which makes them prone to food or other substance addictions. Other symptoms of HPD include:

 

• Constantly seeking attention

• Overly emotional and dramatic (sometimes called a “drama queen”)

• Hyper-sensitivity to rejection

• Very concerned about physical appearance (this tendency would add to obsessing about dieting and weight, which are typical of BED)

 

 

Obesity

 

Obviously, if a person has normal or slow metabolism and binges or overeats frequently enough, he or she will gain weight.  People struggling with compulsive overeating, Night Eating Syndrome, binge eating disorder and other eating problems usually become overweight.  For some people, this excess weight brings on or worsens other health problems.

 

The strong association between BED and obesity is true in most cases, but it is important to remember that people who are not overweight can suffer from binge eating disorder.  Just because these people have not become obese does not mean that they have no problem.  Out of control binges are not normal behavior, and no matter what your weight, BED can cause extreme distress. Unfortunately, normal-weight people with BED symptoms are often dismissed by others (even doctors) when they reach out for help. Many people erroneously think that if a person is not overweight, he has nothing to worry about.

 

 

Polycystic Ovary Syndrome

 

Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) is a relatively common hormone disorder.  Women with POS may have acne, excessive hair growth, obesity and menstrual irregularities. PCOS is associated with obesity, but it is unclear whether obesity is the cause of it.

 

 

Self-Injury, Self-Mutilation

 

Self-harm is when someone intentionally hurts herself. This can include virtually any behavior, including cutting, burning themselves or purposely knocking their head against the wall.

 

Some people who self-harm have explained that sometimes they feel absolutely nothing or “dead” on the inside. Desperate to feel anything at all, they inflict injury to themselves, knowing the feeling of pain will draw them back into a state of feeling and therefore feeling alive.

 

There are other reasons people self-harm. One important theory is that the person’s injury will make his body release feel-good hormones, which help him feel better emotionally. Normally, these hormones get released whenever we get hurt to cushion us from the pain.

 

People sometimes self-harm because they are acting on extreme feelings of disgust, hate or loathing towards themselves. Similarly, some do this to themselves to “punish” themselves for something they think they’ve done wrong.

 

 

Anorexia Nervosa

 

At first glance, anorexia and BED look like polar opposites.

 

In reality, the mental framework of a person with an eating disorder is surprisingly similar, no matter which eating disorder the person has. The person has feelings that are painful or uncomfortable and develops what is essentially a huge diversion for herself. The distraction could be refusing to eat enough food to maintain a healthy weight or it could be binge eating.

 

This is one reason why a family history that includes any eating disorder is relevant in diagnosing BED.

 

What many people don’t know is that lots of people with eating disorders move from one disorder to another over the course of their lives. For instance, an anorexic could develop binge eating disorder. Someone with BED could begin purging and would then have bulimia.

 

 

Bulimia Nervosa

 

Bulimia does involve elements similar to binge eating disorder.  The major difference between the two is that people with bulimia purge after a binge, while those with binge eating disorder do not.  Bulimics purge by vomiting, using laxatives or exercising excessively in an effort to make up for a binge.

 

 

Night Eating Syndrome

 

Night eating syndrome is very similar to binge eating disorder. It is slightly different, in that people with NES follow a pattern every day. In the mornings, they will not eat. In the evenings, they will binge eat. While they are eating, they are completely awake and conscious (unlike Sleep Eating).

 

Sleep Eating, or Nocturnal Sleep-Related Eating Disorder

 

Sleep eating is an eating disorder that is also a sleep disorder. At night, the person will go to sleep, but after about 2-3 hours, he gets out of bed to go looking for food. The entire time, he remains asleep. This means that he doesn’t realize what he’s eating. People with sleep eating will eat frozen foods that were meant to be cooked, make sandwiches with strange ingredients (like sugar and pepper) or eat food that’s gone bad.

 

When the person is sleep eating, the eating appears very much like a binge. The quantity of food can be very large and the person will eat it very fast.

 

 

Body Dysmorphic Disorder

 

Body dysmorphic disorder involves excessive concern with body image, especially obsessing over a perceived flaw. This disorder centers around faulty perception and very obsessive concern about looks.

 

Men or women can get this disorder, but recently the press has talked more about this disorder in males.

 

Alexithymia

 

Alexithymia is not a disorder. It is just a personality trait where you have difficulty labeling your feelings and describing them in detail to other people. People with alexithymia have feelings and they’re normal. It’s just hard for them to find the words to make someone else understand what they’re feeling.

 

 

Insomnia and Other Sleep Disturbances

 

Sleep has a direct impact on eating behavior. A lack of sleep will release hormones that make compulsive eating and binging very hard to resist. This effect is not just for people with BED. Anyone can end up binging and compulsively eating after they’ve missed some sleep.

 

Similarly, people who have their sleep disrupted by sleep apnea, a partner’s snoring, restless legs syndrome or flickering LED’s and screens from electronics can also end up more prone to compulsive eating.

 

Getting enough sleep has tons of health benefits- it slows aging, reduces stress, allows you to control your emotions and best of all, it helps you avoid binge eating.