Binge Eating Disorder

Binge Eating Disorder

Binge eating disorder is when someone has recurring eating binges but they do not purge themselves of the excess food. The DSM-IV describes binge eating disorder as

“...recurring episodes of eating significantly more food in a short period of time than most people would eat under similar circumstances, with episodes marked by feelings of lack of control. Someone with binge eating disorder may eat too quickly, even when he or she is not hungry. The person may have feelings of guilt, embarrassment, or disgust and may binge eat alone to hide the behavior. This disorder is associated with marked distress and occurs, on average, at least once a week over three months.

This change is intended to increase awareness of the substantial differences between binge eating disorder and the common phenomenon of overeating. While overeating is a challenge for many Americans, recurrent binge eating is much less common, far more severe, and is associated with significant physical and psychological problems…”

Too little is known about the criteria and characteristics of binge eating to include it as an official diagnostic category. Individuals with BED are more likely to be depressed with more extreme eating habits than other overweight individuals. BED is more common than anorexia and bulimia and will affect 3% of women and 2% of men at some point in their lives. Older women are more likely to binge eat and they are usually older than the age group that you see more anorexia and bulimia.

Binge eating is very closely associated with obesity, which causes more than 100,000 excess deaths in the United States every year. Obesity also leads to heart attacks and strokes along with diabetes. The preferred method of binge eating disorders is cognitive-behavioral therapy. Antidepressants that balance the levels of serotonin in the brain also help.