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Tumblrhoe t1_j03db9n wrote

Reply to comment by mayormcskeeze in About 3% of Americans suffer from binge-eating disorder; of those 8 out of 10 survived some sort of childhood abuse, neglect, or other trauma. New study shows how early life trauma may change the brain to increase the risk of binge eating. by mtoddh

I have Binge Eating Disorder (BED) - the standard diagnostic criteria is laid out in the DSM-5 which is the major diagnostic manual for psychiatric disorders. Stress eating alone isn't a full qualification, but may be one symptom in conjunction with other things like hiding your food, distress about eating, etc..

Here is a link to the current reference guide for the DSM entry on BED including diagnostic characteristics.

Be careful with self-diagnosis, as my experience is people who blindly go in self-diagnosing without a plan of care can find they start triggering their disorder more because you become hyper aware of it. If you feel like the characteristics described here are particularly applicable it would be a good idea to set up an appointment with a psychiatrist, therapist, and/or medical doctor.

It took me a few years of consistent work but I was able to get control over my BED through the use of medication and EMDR therapy to identify the root triggers from childhood (friends in 2nd grade suddenly hated me but the lunch lady was nice to me and would hug me if I ate all my food).

Knowing what you have is truly just the first step, so be sure to have a plan in place and get professional care if you can.

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TakiTikiToe t1_j06w836 wrote

I know I have BED and try to solve it by myself, but looking at your post makes me think I should possibly go into therapy for it.

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Tumblrhoe t1_j09gba5 wrote

I highly recommend therapy - especially seeing a therapist that is certified to perform EMDR therapy. While a lot of different therapy modalities can help, if you feel that your BED may be caused by trauma EMDR therapy is really the gold standard treatment.

I still struggle day to day, but I'm nearly 3 years in to treatment and it's been night and day. My therapist got me to a place where I was comfortable with food again, and he actually encouraged me to do some things that seemed incredibly counterintuitive at the time from what I had read online.

One example would be he helped me see that the unknown was causing me to binge. I'd eat something and ignore the calories because I was scared and didn't want to know, which would cause me to binge more. Now I calorie count and keep track and it really helps me. Almost like shining the light on the boogey man and realizing the small handful of chips isn't 4000 calories. For others that could be terrible advice because they would obsess over it, but for me it was what I needed to feel stable.

A lot of the advice works for some and not others, so having a professional help me figure out the emotional side so I could tackle the day to day side was massive.

I'd "handled" my BED on my own for nearly my entire life. Huge swings in weight, a lot of self hate, and many moments of lost happiness were the results for me. It took finally sitting down and admitting I needed outside help before I saw lasting improvement.

You can do it!

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