Binge Eating Disorder & Emotional Eating Therapy in Agoura Hills, CA

Binge eating and other forms of overeating come with serious health risks. People who binge eat come in all sizes but are more likely to be overweight or obese. People with binge eating behavior may suffer from medical problems associated with overweight or obesity, such as Type 2 Diabetes, hypertension, stroke, sleep apnea, heart disease, colon cancer, and breast cancer.

People who binge eat experience social and work-related impairment. They may have compromised relationships due to psychological distress or shame about their eating behaviors and body image. Studies show decreased overall life and work satisfaction in people who binge eat. For example, due to low self-esteem, a sufferer may not ask for an appropriate raise and may limit their social participation leading to isolation and compromised functioning in many areas of life.

As with most psychiatric disorders, there is not one single cause of binge eating. Mental health problems often originate from a complex interplay of biological, psychological, and social factors. The emotion regulation model of binge eating understands the out-of-control eating behavior as a maladaptive coping strategy to manage or escape intense emotional states. People who struggle with emotion regulation may have a genetic or biological predisposition to emotional sensitivity. Their family environments were often invalidating and lacking in emotional attunement. They may have experienced emotionally neglectful and/or emotionally intrusive parenting. Over time, they learned food could [temporarily] help them escape intense uncomfortable feelings like overwhelm, anxiety, sadness, loneliness, and shame.

While binge eating may be understood as an unhelpful way of managing emotional dysregulaton, it can also be activated, in part, by the types of foods one consumes. Some foods produce a physiological response that tells the brain to keep eating. This is often the case when consuming highly palatable ultra-processed foods designed in a lab for maximum consumption. Changing one's diet to whole foods may help to produce feelings of satiety that can reduce binge eating behavior, but focusing on whole food alone isn't usually enough. People binge for a variety of psycho-social and physiological reasons, and not exclusively because of the poor nutritional value of any particular foods.

If you are having trouble stopping binge eating behavior and would like to learn more about recovery, reach out for help. I have specialized training in the treatment of binge and emotional eating using Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) adapted specifically for Binge Eating Disorder and other problem mindless eating behaviors. As an OCD Specialist, I have extensive experience assisting people stop compulsive behavior that feels out of control. I can help you develop a new relationship with your body and your emotions so you don't have to turn to food to cope.

Occasional emotional eating is not inherently a problem. It's pretty common in most cultures for food to be central when celebrating joyful occasions and for food to be used as a comfort during times of grief. When emotional eating becomes a problem is when it feels out of control and compromises important areas of your life, like your physical health. If you found your way to this website, that may be an indication that you have some conflict about a pattern of stress eating and it's great you are considering help.

It's wise to consider the expertise of a licensed therapist if you are having trouble stopping problem eating behavior on your own. If you know the risks and feel ready to change yet previous attempts have been unsuccessful, it may be a good idea to get professional help. A therapist with training in binge eating conditions can help you with underlying issues that influence you to use food as a coping skill. It can be easier to maintain a commitment to change with the compassionate and skilled support of a licensed therapist.

Acknowledge that you are vulnerable to experiencing challenges with strong emotions. For a variety of reasons, you may have learned to use food as a coping strategy and that doesn't make you a failure, it makes you human. Be kind to yourself and recognize that it's possible to learn healthier ways of managing intense emotions. It's a sign of strength and resilience that you are considering healthy behavioral changes with the help of therapy.

It's not possible to avoid all stress that may trigger you to use food in unhealthy ways, but by building awareness around your particular areas of difficulty, you can be prepared with a plan for managing stress without turning to emotional eating. The more you build self-awareness around your particular triggers, the better you can prepare and make empowered choices.

Surround yourself with a supportive network of friends, family, a faith community, or healthy peer support groups. When we have a dedicated place or people to share experiences, our shame and isolation decrease and we can draw from the power of community to stick to our goals.

Make time for physical activities that restore a healthy connection to your body and help to regulate stress. Gentle yoga, dance, walking, resistance training, and outdoor hobbies are great ways to help you feel more present in your body while regulating difficult emotions.

Mindfulness practices, such as deep breathing, prayer, or walking meditation, can help bring you back into the present moment when you feel yourself beginning to spiral. Slowing down when we are eating and paying attention to the meal with full awareness may help change eating habits that feel out-of-control.

Consider putting limits on work hours and media consumption to prioritize restorative sleep. Prioritizing sleep may help reduce anxiety and stress that often leads to binge and emotional eating. Protect your goals by being intentional with your time and energy.

All-or-nothing thinking and rigid perfectionism can fuel binge eating. When our standards are unrealistic and unsustainable, we are more likely to go in the extreme other direction and binge eat. Flexible thinking cultivates a healthier mindset around our relationship with food.

Whole foods with a balance of nutrients are less likely to trigger out-of-control eating than ultra-processed foods because they satisfy the body's physical hunger. Work with a nutritionist or metabolic physician if you need help deciding what foods to eat to feel satiated, reducing the likelihood of problematic overeating.

If your pattern of binge eating feels like too much to change on your own, consider therapy with a professional who has specialized training and expertise helping people stop compulsive behavior.

People with OCD and people with ED tend to share personality traits such as unhelpful perfectionism, cognitive inflexibility, high neuroticism, and a strong drive to avoid particular emotional experiences. In both OCD and ED there are behavioral attempts to escape emotional states that feel uncomfortable or intolerable. Both conditions share a tendency to have many rules governing their behavior and an overvalued need to achieve a feeling of "just right" through compulsive and repetitive behavior.

While someone with contamination OCD may compulsively wash their hands as a strategy to neutralize disgust or fear, an individual with Binge Eating Disorder (BED) may compulsively eat to neutralize emotional distress from anxiety, shame, loneliness, or disgust, for example. An OCD sufferer may have unwanted thoughts about harm or being a bad person, while a BED sufferer may have obsessions about eating and food. Both conditions use compulsive behavior as a maladaptive coping strategy to manage discomfort brought on by thoughts and feelings.

Effective treatment for OCD and BED involve learning new skills of emotional regulation and distress tolerance when exposed to triggering circumstances. With collaborative treatment planning, all interventions are grounded in your values and goals of what you want in your life.

At the core of ERP for OCD or DBT for binge eating is the development of a new relationship with anxiety or other intense emotions and a sense of empowerment and agency to stop compulsive behavior. As an integrative therapist, issues pertaining to trauma history, family dynamics, and lifestyle are addressed in treatment.