Binge watching your favorite shows on Netflix is not something that you need to worry about. As long as you are making enough time for other things. Binge eating, on the other hand, is incredibly serious.

Overeating in all its forms has become an increasingly serious problem. A problem that many people do not understand properly. Although eating is a very natural part of living; binge eating is not.

Many people see someone overeating and think of them as just greedy or lazy when really this is not the case.

There are actually many psychological reasons hidden behind binge eating. Even if someone claims they are happy with the diet and lifestyle they lead – eating what they want when they want. They are often in denial about the real causes of the problem or just haven’t identified them yet.

To help understand this better we will look at some of the psychological reasons that hide behind binge eating. Perhaps you overeat and wonder why or someone you love does and you want to understand why. This article is for you.

Comfort Eating

Comfort eating is a common way that human beings deal with feelings and needs that have not been met. If an individual is finding it difficult to find friends, a partner or to just feel accepted, they can often turn to eating as a fix.

When their relationship ends, particularly if they were not the one that ended it, you will often hear about people binge eating. Eating can be a great way to drown sorrows – after all, food doesn’t let you down like a boyfriend, girlfriend, husband or wife might.

Grief is another psychological reason why people comfort eat. When you are sad and low, you tend to want to eat rich food. It can feel soothing, because of all the carbohydrates and fats.

Frustrations In Life

Not everything goes according to plan. We all know this is the reality of being a human being. However, when a series of things all seem to be wrong in quick succession, it can be too much to handle.

For some people, this is when they turn to food and binge eat. It’s very easy to say “To hell with it” and eat that multi-pack of crisps or a full tub of ice cream or block of chocolate.

Increased Anxiety/Alarm

Binge eating is often something people turn to when they experience a serious amount of stress inner tension, fear or anxiety. Although stuffing your face with all that tasty grub may temporarily ease your tension, it won’t solve the problem.

Trying To Numb Out Things

Often, it’s not just about not being able to express emotions or not having feelings understood or cared for. Sometimes, people binge eat simply because they can’t or don’t want to deal with their feelings.

Because it is just too hard. In a similar way to someone who drinks a lot of alcohol to forget, many people binge eat to numb out their emotions.



When you are eating food that makes you feel happy, even temporarily, or just so full that you can’t think or feel, the pain that you are suffering emotionally is blocked out.

Shame and Self Attack

In relation to things going wrong in life, one of the first things many people do is judge, blame and get angry. They either blame and judge someone else, or more often than not, themselves.

Most people blame just about anything that happens in their lives on themselves.

Then shame comes along. People feel bad about the bad things that happen to them and feel ashamed. To cope with all these feelings, they hide. Hide from the bad things and actually take refuge in the bad side of things.

Instead of trying to see anything positive, they eat because they may as well, seeing as they are big failures. That’s how they feel anyway.

It also stops them from working on their problems and feeling good about themselves. This can become a really dangerous and vicious circle. The more overweight a person gets because of their binge eating for this reason, the more likely they are to continue binge eating.

Childhood Habits That Are Never Broken

Most people have childhood memories that revolve around food. Like getting rewards from parents in the form of sweets.

Or help you to cope with cuts and bruises with ice cream or when they just make you that one meal – your favourite meal to celebrate a success or great grade. It is more common to have some emotional attachments to food than none at all.

When people suffer from stress, therefore, they often turn back to those memories that made them feel happy. Rather than effectively coping and dealing with what’s stressing them out, they want to run away to the memories.

References:

  1. https://www.psychologytoday.com/
  2. https://www.verywellmind.com/
  3. https://growinghumankindness.com/

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