Binge Drinking & Binge Eating
In most instances, a person will feel an irresistible feeling of wanting to overeat or drink, usually in an extremely hurried manner. In many instances with binge eating and binge drinking, the binger has analysed the problem endlessly, to no useful effect, and no amount of discussion and further analysis has proved helpful. Often, previous attempted solutions have focused solely on food or drink, rather than on how the person is creating the unhelpful feeling that creates the problem. My approach to this and many other conditions is not to seek “why the person has the problem,” but rather “how the problem is being created.” For sessions check HERE
The All or Nothing Mind Set in Binge Eating and Binge Drinking
Often clients with binge eating and binge drinking related issues have developed an “all or nothing” way of thinking and feeling. This is a bit like a car that only has first or sixth gear as choices. I had one client who had binge related problems who if she had what she called “a good day” would eat healthily and at a sensible pace. If she had what she called “a bad day” she would go to the local store, fill up her basket with donuts and similar foods and then proceed to binge until she felt better. She had other kinds of different therapy, kept food diaries and analysed her situation at some length. None of these approaches had worked because many of the attempts had involved her thinking increasingly about food!
My role was to assist her in learning how to make better choices about what she ate and when she ate. To date, all my clients who have had binge eating and binge drinking issues have been types that are highly mentally active and who, in most cases, use these same skills with great success in other areas of their life. The difficulty they have is that in relation to food or drink, they can’t find any sort of braking system, so everything in terms of how they eat or drink is going far too fast. They literally have adopted this “all or nothing” behaviour and no amount of thinking has any useful effect. It’s like the whole world is now seen through this particular lens.
By changing how they think about the problem, it’s entirely possible to quickly change how they feel and respond. In many instances, in just 2 – 3 sessions, a person can experience a totally new sense of well-being that previously had eluded them, with a new range of options and strategies, associated with improved beliefs about themselves and what is possible.
Client Feedback
“When I think of the future I can’t see myself binging, it’s a million times better now and the thought of binging never even crosses my mind. I feel like I am now always going to be in control”
Saima