Many times when eating disorders care examined by American society or the media, eating disorders such as anorexia or bulimia usually take up the spotlight. While anorexia and bulimia are serious conditions, just as devastating and more prevalent are eating disorders such as compulsive overeating where people use eating as a means to cope emotionally with the stress in their lives.

Compulsive overeating manifests itself in a variety of ways. One of the biggest indicators is binge eating where an individual will routinely eat so much food they are uncomfortably full or eating when they are already full. Binging may happen even when the individual who suffers from compulsive overeating tries to go on a diet. Binge eating happens because people suffering from compulsive overeating are driven to eat to fill an emotional need, not because they simply love food. Binges usually leave people ashamed and frequently people suffering from compulsive overeating feel ashamed after they binge, which may result in them jumping from one diet to the next in an unsuccessful attempt to stop binging.

Like treatment for anorexia, bulimia and other eating disorders, overeating treatment has to address the overeating itself with nutritional therapy to help the person suffering from compulsive overeating to get the healthy amount of foods in the right proportions. Eating Disorder Treatment also needs to provide people who overeat with the coping skills to address situations where there is stress in their life without resorting to overeating, behavioral therapy to address the patterns of behavior and habits of overeating as well as addressing any underlying trauma that may have triggered the condition in the first place.

Overeating is a chronic condition that needs to be monitored in the long term to prevent relapses into old habits. Treatment for people who overeat could range from personal counseling or support groups such as “Overeaters Anonymous” to medical outpatient programs. Overeating isn’t just laziness or loving food too much, it is a psychological and emotional condition. Overeating may be a big challenge for people to overcome, but once people who overeat have received treatment, they inevitably go on to live healthier, fuller lives physically, mentally, and emotionally.