Posted by Racer on February 24, 2004, at 22:02:49
In reply to Therapist mentioned binge eating..., posted by Pandabear on February 24, 2004, at 20:46:19
This is one of those things that are almost impossible to break down into component parts. If you try to keep a mental record of what you're eating, and whether or not it constitutes a binge eating pattern, you'll just overwhelm yourself. (I know: I've been there, and I've done that, although in my case it was usually self-starvation with an ocassional normal meal that felt like a binge to me.)
Here's the best advice I can come up with for you: someone said on another board that it doesn't matter if you have a diagnosible eating disorder. The question is: "Is your eating pattern disordered?" Great advice, and I think it might have been Shar who posted it.
So, instead of looking for whether or not you can slap a label on what you're doing, how about documenting what you're doing? Keep a food diary for a few days, and take it to your next appointment and ask your therapist whether or not it reflects a binging pattern?
Most of the stuff that goes on in therapy, at least for me, seems easier if it can be labelled. The reality is that the label is arbitrary, and, while the label is reassuring, it's an artificial boundary that we need to learn to do without. Saying, "I have an eating disorder" is fine as a starting point, but the more important question is what do you do about it? Kinda like the first thing you do in AA is state that you are an alcoholic -- it's not a step along the way, it's an assumed starting point, which precedes the process of recovery.
Good luck, and do let us know what happens.
poster:Racer
thread:317321
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20040218/msgs/317352.html