Eating disorders
Binge eating disorder
Binge eating disorder is a recognised eating disorder, not a failure of willpower or self-control. Binge eating often sits within a cycle of restriction, difficult emotions, eating that feels out of control, and the shame or renewed rules that follow. Treatment works by understanding what is driving and maintaining that cycle, rather than asking you to simply try harder to stop.
Binge eating disorder is the most common eating disorder, and one of the least talked about. It occurs across every body size, and people living with it are frequently offered weight loss advice rather than treatment, which tends to intensify the cycle rather than ease it.
Dieting is one of the strongest predictors of binge eating. Restriction, whether physical or psychological, creates the conditions for the very behaviour someone is trying to stop.
More restriction is rarely the answer. It is usually part of the question.
What treatment involves
The aim is a relationship with eating that is settled and unremarkable, not one governed by a new set of rules.
We begin by establishing regular, adequate eating, which for many people reduces the frequency of binges considerably on its own. Alongside that, we look at the emotional triggers: what a binge is doing for you, what it interrupts, and what becomes possible when other ways of managing those moments are available.
We also work on the shame, the food rules and the beliefs about body and self-worth that keep the cycle running. The aim is a relationship with eating that is settled and unremarkable, not one governed by a new set of rules.
Continue reading
You might also find these pages helpful
Get Started
If you would like to talk about what you are looking for, please reach out. There is no pressure and no threshold you have to cross first.