Binge Eating Disorder: Causes, Consequences And Treatment
For many of us there are certain days a year (like New Year’s Eve dinner) when we eat “until we can’t fit anything else in our bellies.” For those who suffer from binge eating disorder these types of “binges” are common and end up becoming something uncomfortable in your daily life, with serious negative consequences for your health.
Binge eating disorder is a serious eating disorder in which the person suffering from it frequently eats large amounts of food and feels out of control during the binge. After overeating, severe anxiety or concern about weight often appears.
Eating disorders usually develop during adolescence or adulthood, although they can also appear in childhood. Binge eating disorder is different from bulimia nervosa, since the person who suffers from it does not seek to counteract the binge eating by causing themselves to vomit.
Like anorexia and bulimia, binge eating disorder is a serious illness, but it can be treated. It usually coexists with diseases such as depression, anxiety disorders and substance abuse.
Symptoms
Below are the main symptoms of binge eating disorder:
Causes
The causes of this disorder are unknown, although it is thought that there are several factors associated with its development. Depression seems to be one of the causes, since the majority of patients suffer from a depressive disorder.
There also seems to be a relationship between emotional management and binge eating disorder, since anger, sadness, boredom, or stress favor the development of symptoms.
Some studies seem to indicate that There could also be biological factors related to binge eating disorder for example, the involvement of certain genes in the development of the pathology. Other research confirms that serotonin is linked to this disorder, and suggests that estrogen hormone therapy may specifically trigger brain neurons that produce serotonin to inhibit binge eating.
In addition, other causes of binge eating disorder seem to be: impulsivity or alcohol abuse.
Negative health consequences
Depression can not only be a cause, but it can be a negative consequence of this type of eating disorder, since after binge eating those who suffer from this pathology feel bad and see their self-esteem affected.
Weight gain is another negative consequence and produces serious health consequences, such as the following:
Treatment of binge eating disorder
These types of disorders should be treated by a specialist and the goals for treatment are: reducing binge eating, improving emotional and physical well-being, and weight loss.
