When you do act on urges to binge and purge, many people want to pretend that it didn't really happen. In order to stop the binge-purge cycle, examine what happened and what you can do differently the next time something similar happens. This is an exercise that can be incredibly helpful to go through with your therapist. Be kind to yourself. As you learn more about what your own triggers are, and what coping skills work best for you, your recovery skills will become stronger and you will be more likely to stop yourself from acting upon urges.
And don't be ashamed to get help. A mental health professional can help guide you as you work on recognizing your triggers, developing more positive coping skills, and staying in recovery. Learn the best ways to manage stress and negativity in your life. Does cognitive avoidance mediate the relation of anxiety and binge eating? Eat Weight Disord. Examining social support, rumination, and optimism in relation to binge eating among Caucasian and African-American college women.
Effective Treatment of Pediatric Eating Disorders. Pediatr Ann. Predictors of rapid relapse in bulimia nervosa. Int J Eat Disord.
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Was this page helpful? Thanks for your feedback! Sign Up. There are often ways to get treatment that is less expensive. Eating disorders are serious and sometimes fatal diseases. But they are treatable, and full recovery is possible. When you begin to lose hope, it can become a self-fulfilling prophecy. Work to stay positive and talk to your therapist anytime you find you are struggling emotionally. Hopefully, you have a wonderful treatment team in place that you can call for help and support, no questions asked.
But are you also including your family and friends and giving them a chance to support you in recovery? Asking for help can be a daily process and may require you to ask for specific things such as support during meals that they can help you with. Keeping secrets about difficult things in your life can lead to feelings of shame and prevent you from asking for support when you need it.
If they know what's going on, they're more likely to be able to be there for you in ways that will help. Full recovery can take years and for many, it's not easy.
Many people struggle with slips and relapses as well. Have faith in the recovery process and check in with your treatment team if you aren't making the progress that you had hoped for. Your treatment team should be comprised of professionals who have years of training and experience with eating disorders.
Listen to them when they recommend specific changes, even when it might seem scary to you. Changes such as adding a medication, adopting a meal plan, or considering a higher level of care can be important and necessary changes to your treatment plan. Recovery from an eating disorder requires facing situations that you may have been avoiding, such as eating certain foods, tolerating feelings of fullness, and tolerating feelings of anxiety when you do not exercise.
Work with your treatment team to develop a plan to gradually face these situations. An eating disorder is a complex mental illness that requires professional care. While there is certainly helpful reading material out there, it can't replace the care of a qualified treatment team. Always consult with your providers before making any changes to your treatment plan.
Learn the best ways to manage stress and negativity in your life. Eating disorders. Published Berrettini W. The genetics of eating disorders. Psychiatry Edgmont.
Halmi KA. Salient components of a comprehensive service for eating disorders. World Psychiatry. Bulimia sufferers needing the self-control to overcome their eating disorder may be helped by completing an ABC Antecedent, Behavior, Consequence Chart.
When the person engages in bulimic symptoms such as binging or purging, they may use this chart to slow down and track what happened. What precipitated the behavior, what did the person do, and what happened afterward?
This can help individuals better understand their triggers, putting them one step ahead of the disorder so that they can control their reaction. This trait is associated with those continually seeking new and exciting activities in order to feel the surge of dopamine and adrenaline that is released by doing so [2].
Researchers theorize, via the psychobiological theory, that this increase in novelty-seeking behaviors occurs because individuals with bulimia have higher sensitivity to reward [3]. These people do not regulate the dopamine in their brain as others typically do, which results in the person changing their behaviors to achieve those feelings of reward.
Now, there is nothing you can do about how your brain regulates or processes any neurons. Running , rock climbing, performing on stage, or playing trivia can all result in the same rush of dopamine and rewarding feelings. The next and final installment in this series address what traits are unique to binge eating disorder BED and how they can be repurposed to achieve recovery!
About the Author: Margot Rittenhouse is a therapist who is passionate about providing mental health support to all in need and has worked with clients with substance abuse issues, eating disorders, domestic violence victims and offenders, and severely mentally ill youth. As a freelance writer for Eating Disorder and Addiction Hope and a mentor with MentorConnect, Margot is a passionate eating disorder advocate, committed to de-stigmatizing these illnesses while showing support for those struggling through mentoring, writing, and volunteering.
The opinions and views of our guest contributors are shared to provide a broad perspective of eating disorders. These are not necessarily the views of Eating Disorder Hope, but an effort to offer a discussion of various issues by different concerned individuals.
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