Binge Eating Disorder (BED)

What is binge eating disorder?

It is common to “comfort eat” from time to time. However, if you are finding that you binge eat (eat a large amount of food in a small period of time, whilst experiencing a sense of loss of control) you may be suffering from binge eating disorder. In this eating disorder there is no compensation for the binge eating, although some people will have periods of dieting or rules around food. This may be more short term (restricting in the morning and bingeing later in the day) or long-term (having periods of restriction and weight loss followed by periods of binge eating, often causing weight to “yo-yo”.).

Binge eating typically has some sort of function (being used as a way of numbing or avoiding difficult thoughts or emotions, giving a sense of relief or release, or being used as a reward or punishment). However, it often causes shame or guilt afterwards. People sometimes don’t recognise this as an eating disorder, but it is an eating disorder and requires treatment.

What is the best treatment for binge eating disorder?

The recommended treatment for BED is CBT-E (a form of CBT developed for eating disorders). However, where BED is not sufficient or does not feel like a good fit to someone, it can be useful to draw on compassion focussed therapy, schema therapy, or tools from DBT.