Binge eating disorder: symptoms, treatment and consequences

Binge eating disorder is an eating disorder that affects between 2% and 5% of the population and occurs more frequently in females. It is characterized by compulsive, uncontrollable and recurrent episodes of large ingestion of food or bingeing. In addition to weight changes or being overweight, emotional symptoms such as anxiety, depression, stress, and feelings of failure, guilt, and / or shame are common. If this disorder is not treated following the indications of specialists, it can have very negative consequences for both the physical and mental health of the person. It will be necessary to start psychological therapy, take the appropriate drugs if necessary and receive counseling with the aim of getting to control these binge episodes and overcome all the psychological problems that arise. present. In this Psychology-Online article, we talk in detail about the Binge Eating Disorder: Symptoms, Treatment, and Consequences.

Index

1. What is Binge Eating Disorder
2. Difference between bulimia and binge eating disorder
3. Binge Eating Disorder Symptoms
4. Causes of binge eating disorder
5. Binge Eating Disorder: Treatment and Solutions
6. Binge eating disorder: consequences

Binge eating disorder is a eating disorder gravity in which the person eat large amounts of food compulsively and recurrently. During the ingestion, it is felt that total control of the situation has been lost and, after this episode, great anguish and a concern about the weight that can be gained as a result of these often surface Binge.

These types of eating disorders are more common in adolescents and adults, although they can also develop during childhood. Like other problems of this nature, it is a serious disorder that is usually accompanied by other diseases such as depression, anxiety or drug use. excessive of certain substances and that, therefore, requires specialized treatment that combines psychotherapy and pharmacology with nutritional guidelines adequate.

Often, this eating disorder tends to be confused with bulimia nervosa, but although they have certain similarities, the truth is that there are important differences between the two.

The main difference between bulimia and binge eating disorder is that people with binge eating do not carry out compensatory behaviors after overeating. That is, after binge eating, they do not resort to vomiting to get rid of consumed food, fasts, hard physical training, the consumption of laxatives or diuretics, etc. For this reason, many of the people with this disorder are usually overweight and also have depressive symptoms.

Frequent and sudden changes in weight, being overweight and obesity are usually physical symptoms of binge eating disorder, but it is also possible that the person affected is at a normal weight. Next, we detail what are the behavioral and emotional symptoms that can diagnose binge eating disorder:

• Eating exaggerated amounts of food.
• Eating even when not hungry or feeling full
• Eating too fast during the binge
• Lack of control over the amount of food eaten
• Eating until you feel completely full
• Eating frequently alone, which stems from the shame felt by the large amounts of food they eat.
• Sadness, shame, guilt after binge eating.
• Depression and anxiety.
• Feeling isolated and having difficulty expressing what you feel to others.
• Low selfsteem.
• Loss of sexual desire.
• Dieting frequently, with no results.

The exact causes of binge eating disorder are unknown, but specialists point out that there are a number of factors that can increase the risk of suffering from it, and these are the ones that we list in the following lines:

• Family background: there is a possibility that genes have been inherited that make a person more susceptible to developing this disease. It is also possible that certain brain chemicals have changed.
• Psychological disorders: Many of the people who suffer from this disease are overweight and feel bad about themselves for it and / or have depression, uncontrollable stress, anger, sadness, worry and boredom. Alcoholism or substance abuse has also been identified as a risk factor.
• Feeding: The fact of having been put on many diets can end up provoking that urge to overeat and compulsive, especially when depression and signs of low self-esteem are present.
• Age: Anyone can develop this disease, but it is seen most often in the adolescent stage or in people in their 20s.

To overcome binge eating disorder, it is essential to put yourself in the hands of a specialist who establishes the treatment to follow. This should be aimed at reducing binge eating in order to achieve optimal emotional well-being and achieve weight loss. In addition, all associated psychological problems must be treated. Treatment for binge eating disorder usually includes the following:

Psychological treatment

Psychological therapy should be started to help overcome emotional problems and modify unhealthy habits. Psychotherapy can include:

• Cognitive-behavioral therapy: essential to help overcome the negative emotions and feelings that can result from binge eating food, both those related to one's own body image and those related to a state of mind depressed. The affected person is also provided with the necessary guidelines to achieve greater control of their behavior and guidance to meet the goal of losing weight if you are overweight or obesity.
• Interpersonal psychotherapy: This therapy is based on improving relationships with other people in the environment, thus helping the affected person to establish healthy relationships and develop good communication skills.
• Dialectical behavior therapy: behavioral skills are taught that help the person to better manage their emotions, to be able to control their stress and to improve their personal relationships. All of this is done in order to reduce that uncontrollable desire to eat large amounts of food.

Pharmacotherapy

Psychotherapy can be combined with the administration of some drugs that help reduce symptoms, such as:

• Antidepressant drugs: Medications such as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors and tricyclic antidepressants may be effective in treating this eating disorder.
• Antiseizure drugs: the anticonvulsant topiramate is a medicine used to control seizures and may be helpful in reducing binge eating as well.

Nutritional treatment

When symptoms are reduced, it is very important that the affected person has the professional help of a nutritionist to improve your relationship with food and to be able to follow a healthy and balanced diet in everything moment. Strict diets that promise rapid weight loss are not recommended until binge eating disorder has been treated.

There are several consequences of binge eating disorder that can occur if the disease is not treated early and properly. Among them are both physical and psychological health problems:

• Depression
• Being overweight or obese
• Suicidal thoughts
• Hypertension
• Diabetes
• High cholesterol levels
• Sleep disorders
• Digestive diseases
• Gallbladder disease
• Joint and / or muscle pain
• Headaches
• Heart diseases
• Menstrual disturbances

This article is merely informative, in Psychology-Online we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.

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