Binge Eating Treatment

Full recovery from binge eating disorder is possible. You may or may not have had a diagnosis but if you’re struggling then the first step is to reach out.

Binge Eating Disorder (BED) is an eating disorder characterised by recurrent episodes of consuming large amounts of food in a short period of time. It’s often accompanied by a feeling of loss of control during binge episodes. Binge eating disorder differs from bulimia as individuals with BED do not engage in regular compensatory behaviours such as vomiting, excessive exercise, or laxative use to eliminate the calories consumed during binges.

Some of these may sound like your experience:

  • Recurrent binge eating episodes

  • Eating large amounts of food in a short space of time

  • Experiencing a trance-like state during binges

  • Emotional distress including guilt, shame, and embarrassment

  • Eating alone or in secret

  • Weight gain

  • Low self-esteem

  • Body image issues

  • Perfectionism

  • Self-harm

Binge Eating Disorder is a serious mental health condition that can have both physical and emotional consequences. It's associated with an increased risk of health problems such as heart disease, diabetes, and hypertension, as well as emotional challenges like depression, anxiety, and OCD.

You are not alone. Recovery is possible.

Binge Eating Disorder (BED)

This is defined by eating a large amount of food in a short period of time, multiple times per week, and is accompanied by feeling out of control. Guilt, shame, self-disgust, and embarrassment cause significant emotional distress following a binge. Some individuals will gain weight whilst others will maintain a “normal” weight, meaning the disorder is often overlooked.

Binge eating can present in a number of ways. Specialised treatment for binge eating needs to look beyond just the symptoms and tailor therapy to the individual’s needs.

Emotional Eating

Emotional eating involves overeating or binging in response to emotional distress or triggers, such as stress, anxiety, sadness, or anger. Food is used to cope with these difficult emotions. Although individuals may feel temporary relief during the binge, they will often feel guilt and shame following these episodes of overeating.

Compulsive Overeating

Whilst compulsive eating shares similarities to BED, they are not the same. This may or may not include episodes of eating large amounts of food in a single sitting, but often can be a habit of eating throughout the day, sometimes without a sense of control. Some individuals have specific triggers such as stress, anxiety, and hormonal changes, but for others eating is a compulsive behaviour with no obvious trigger.

Night Eating Syndrome (NES)

NES involves consuming a significant portion of daily caloric intake during the evening and nighttime hours. People with NES may wake up during the night to eat, and this eating pattern can disrupt their sleep. NES is characterized by a loss of control over nighttime eating and often includes emotional components.

However binge eating or overeating is affecting your life, online counselling and psychotherapy with a qualified eating disorder therapist can help you break the cycle.

I provide effective online therapy for binge eating and emotional/compulsive overeating. The treatment I offer to help you overcome binge eating involves:

  1. Counselling and psychotherapy - This includes drawing upon Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Mindfulness, Logotherapy, stress management, and trauma work where necessary.

  2. Nutritional rehabilitation - This treatment model uses a number of tools to address the dietary chaos, reduce cravings, and improve appetite/satiation.

  3. Relapse prevention - This helps you identify triggers to avoid lapses, and how to quickly recover from any lapses that do occur.

How to stop binge eating

I understand the struggles that come with binge eating.

I spent years feeling anxious, depressed, and hopeless. I was desperate to find freedom from obsessing about food and the shame, guilt, and self-hatred every time I lost control. Every day felt like a battle.

Thankfully, recovery was within reach. After over a decade of struggling, I found a therapist who helped me understand the factors that led to my eating disorder, supported me to work through the underlying issues, and gave me the knowledge and skills to effectively overcome binge eating.

I’ve undergone specialist training to offer online treatment for binge eating so that I can help you do the same.

There is hope. Full recovery is possible.

I provide online counselling and psychotherapy for binge eating and compulsive overeating using a compassionate, evidence-based approach.

Recovery is about more than just getting rid of symptoms. It’s about helping you to thrive and live the full, meaningful life the eating disorder has been stealing from you.