Binge Eating Support

Talk Therapy/Psychotherapy 

 

Psychotherapy is commonly referred to as “therapy” or “counseling”. It has become immensely popular for those dealing with disorders as well as those without. Many people with no mental condition seek therapy to help them through normal life changes that tend to be stressful, such as death or divorce. 

 

Several different types of professionals offer psychotherapy, including psychiatrists (medical doctors who specialize in chemical imbalances in the brain and mental disorders), Licensed Clinical Social Workers or pastors/priests/religious leaders. 

 

There are different approaches to therapy that a practitioner might take, but sessions focus on the client’s concerns, such as compulsive eating or binging. Overall, the client usually talks more. The therapist listens and asks questions designed to help the client make up her mind about something or gain insight. Typically, a client will realize things she never had before as a result of these questions. 

 

 

 

The therapist will usually explain concepts to you, but they also lead you to resources (like books and websites) that are helpful for understanding the issues you feel are most important in your life.

 

 

The most important thing to look for in a therapist is a good “fit”. Everyone has a different personality and background. Therapists know that in order for therapy to be most beneficial, the client should click with the therapist. Their personalities should mesh well.

 

 

Many clients are also concerned about a therapist’s background. They may look for certain characteristics of the therapist (like age or gender) they prefer. Usually, this is just because the client wants to feel comfortable and wants a therapist they can identify with. A former soldier might choose a therapist who had also served in the military. A man might prefer that his therapist be male. A senior citizen might prefer to see a therapist who is close to her in age.

 

 

 Another important factor is the therapist’s area of specialty. If you have BED, compulsive eating or any other sort of eating disorder, you should try to find a therapist with experience in eating disorders. Surprisingly, not every therapist can identify disordered eating, and they may lack the specialized knowledge and experience that could help you.

 

 

When you’re looking for a therapist, try to talk to a few to see who you like the best. Here are a few tips for choosing a therapist:

 

 

• Your therapist should be completely non-judgmental.

• She should not invalidate your feelings. If you tell her you can’t stop eating no matter how hard you try, she should accept that you feel that way. Meaning, she should not tell you it’s no big deal, that you should just eat less and exercise more or that you shouldn’t want to be thin, anyway. All of these responses invalidate your feeling that you can’t control your eating.

• She should generally not be doing most of the talking in sessions.

 

 

 

 

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy

 

 

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is a form of clinical behavior analysis (which is sort of like cognitive behavioral therapy, but not quite) that focuses on acceptance and mindfulness practices in addition to commitment and behavior changes.

 

 

If that sounded like a bunch of vague mumbo-jumbo, fear not. There really is a solid explanation behind ACT. As someone with BED, I have to admit, though, that the concepts you learn in ACT are completely new and can be difficult to understand. For me, this was because ACT focuses on being insightful (and my avoidance of feelings made it difficult to be insightful about myself).

 

 

ACT is a bit different from cognitive behavioral therapy because instead of teaching you how to change your thoughts and behavior, it teaches you to just notice and accept your thoughts without judgment. The idea is that most of our pain in life comes from our judgments about our thoughts. We label the thoughts in our heads and if we judge a thought as “bad” or “painful”, negative emotions start cropping up.

 

 

If you change your judgment of your thoughts and memories- or better yet, learn to notice them without judging- you will not feel the pain they used to cause.   

 

 

This might sound like a tall order. I mean, if we could just stop feeling the pain of a particular thought or memory, we wouldn’t have BED, right? In ACT, people learn these skills and practice using them. Study results are in, and ACT has proven to be very, very useful in treating many conditions.

 

 

ACT has been studied and has shown effectiveness in treating anxiety, depression, eating disorders, addictions, self-harm and body dissatisfaction. It has also been effective for weight control and diabetes management.

 

 

According to ACT, fighting negative thoughts only makes you think of them even more. They believe it is better to change your understanding of those thoughts so you will not react to them.

 

 

You can learn more about ACT through one of the many books on it. I particularly like “Get Out of Your Mind and into Your Life: The New Acceptance and Commitment Therapy”.

 

 

 

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

 

 

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is a form of psychotherapy or talk therapy that focuses on changing maladaptive thoughts, emotions and behaviors.  Usually, this is accomplished through setting goals and working to achieve them.

 

 

CBT has been the preferred type of psychological treatment for those who want to focus on learning how to do whatever behaviors will help them get rid of their symptoms. In BED, one of the CBT goals would be to work towards reducing and eliminating binge eating.

 

In CBT, the root cause of the problem is not ignored, but there is far more focus on “doing” instead of “talking”.

 

 

 

Dialectical Behavior Therapy

 

 

Dialectical Behavior Therapy is a form of cognitive behavioral therapy that teaches people how to better regulate their behavior and emotions. For people with compulsive eating or BED, this approach is very helpful. Reducing the impact and occurrence of negative emotions means fewer binges are triggered.

 

Originally developed to treat Borderline Personality Disorder, DBT has now also been shown to be effective in treating other conditions, including addiction.   

 

 

Dialectical Behavior Therapy teaches concrete skills to deal with several of the issues central to BED.  For example:

 

 

• Mindfulness- Mindfulness practices can help people with BED learn to be more connected to their feelings and self-aware. We have usually learned to detach from our feelings to avoid pain, but it is this very detachment that keeps people from recovering. Gaining the ability to have better insight into ourselves helps us understand what triggers a binge.

• Learning how to accept our emotions without being judgmental.  This is important because we have been using binge eating to stuff down our emotions. We’ve labeled emotions are bad and try to avoid feeling them by numbing out with food. This strategy cannot go on forever. Human beings were meant to have emotions…even “bad” ones. Emotions are supposed to be felt. We can stuff them down temporarily, but eventually they’ll all come out. Not judging our emotions means we’ll feel less of a need to escape them.

• Self Care. Skills for self-care are extremely useful for people with BED.  Often, a person who has BED has been attempting to care for herself with food.  Before she can stop using food in this way, she has to learn other ways to take care of herself mentally and physically. To stop using food to cope with negative emotions, we must first learn new ways to process them.

 

 

Cognitive Remediation Therapy

 

 

Cognitive Remediation Therapy is a program designed to improve abilities like working memory, attention, planning and cognitive flexibility. It was originally created as a rehabilitation program for those with serious deficits in cognitive ability. Now it’s becoming apparent that it is useful in the treatment of eating disorders.

 

CRT is helpful to someone with an eating disorder because his thinking is very inflexible when it comes to certain topics, like weight. CRT helps people gain flexibility in their thinking. It focuses on their thinking process, not their beliefs.

 

 

CRT is done by computer, where the patient completes the tasks shown on it. Eating disorder CRT may vary, however. It could involve more discussion of the issues and how they’re influencing everyday life. Skills are practiced in the patient’s normal interactions, then the results may be discussed with the therapist.

 

 

 

Family Therapy

 

 

This is talk therapy for couples or families. The reason that this sort of therapy can be so helpful is that very often, someone close to the person with BED is interacting with her in ways that are not helpful. In addition, this sort of therapy would help someone with BED see how her eating affects those around her.

 

 

Relationships with unresolved issues can benefit a great deal from family therapy. In the case of an eating problem, getting your family to understand this disorder and how to best help you is important.

 

 

Some of the most difficult emotions we have as humans are the ones caused by interacting with other humans. Learning more effective ways to communicate and resolving long-standing issues means less negativity and stress on your relationship. If those feelings were encouraging you to binge before, having a more healthy relationship will bring you relief- and hopefully, help you to binge less.

 

 

 

Group Therapy

 

 

Group therapy is when a group of people with the same conditions or situations meet to talk about the problem and get support from others who understand.

 

 

Many therapists offer group therapy, in which case it is usually a smaller group. However, large groups like some Alcoholics Anonymous meetings are also a form of group therapy. The size of the group doesn’t make it good or bad, so choose according to what you prefer.

 

 

Support groups for BED can be very helpful. Listening to other group members will reassure you that you are not alone and that you have people who really do understand that you can talk to. So many of us with BED or compulsive eating have no one in our lives who really understands what it’s like.

 

 

Group members also help each other in a practical sense. They share what has worked for them and what hasn’t.

 

Group therapy for BED can be very useful in your recovery.