What are the Causes of Eating Disorders and Binge Eating
Helping you understand yourself and your behaviour.
Many sufferers wonder what the causes of eating disorders are, and what makes them behave the way they do - in other words "Why me?"
It's a massive question, and unfortunately there is no clear, simple answer! All the research that has been done suggests that there is no single reason why some people find themselves trapped in a cycle of binge eating or other disordered eating behaviour. And when you think about it - we are ALL INDIVIDUALS, with our own unique makeup and background.
For every one who binge-eats there will be an individual and very personal story.
(The research itself is limited, especially around causes of binge eating, but it is improving. For an overview, you could look up the classic book "Overcoming Binge Eating" by Dr Christopher Fairburn.)
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picture by James Jordan on Flickr.com |
What we can say is that there are some common CONTRIBUTING FACTORS. These won't necessarily mean that someone will definitely start to binge eat or develop an eating disorder, but if several factors are present, then they may mean that someone is more likely to develop such a difficulty.
We will discuss some of these contributing factors here, but remember - they all blur, overlap and combine together, and just like the rest of life, they are messy and hard to pin down. Life's just not that simple! And what impacts upon one person might not affect another at all.
It is also important not to get stuck in asking the question "WHY?"
Sometimes, we can keep thinking that if only we knew exactly WHY we have ended up where we are, only then we will be able to do something about it. But when problems are as complex as our emotions are, then we can spend a never-ending amount of time searching for answers. In her excellent book "Solution Focused recovery from Eating Distress", Frederike Jacob says that, if you find you are stuck in asking the question 'why', then think about this:
"Lets pretend you have the answer…. Now what can you DO?"
The rest of this website will hopefully give you lots of clues as to what you can DO. But before then… here's a little more about some of the possible causes of eating disorders and binge eating:
To try to understand things clearer, we can separate the multiple contributing factors into categories.
There can be :
There is also the difference between what might lead to an eating problem, and what MAINTAINS it. In order to know how to stop the behaviour and break free from all the distress it creates, it can often be more useful to consider what keeps someone binging.
Some of the Maintaining Factors can be:
- An individuals motivation to change. Very often, sufferers with eating disorders have spent many years shaping their lifestyle AROUND the problem, in order to keep it secret. This might mean that the sufferer, although hating the disorder (and, too often, themselves), and wishing things were different, end up accommodating the problem, rather than tackling it. Someone has to be READY, WILLING and ABLE to change.
- Purging: By vomiting, abusing laxatives or other compensatory behaviours as in Bulimia Nervosa, the sufferer sees these as weight control measures (you will learn in this website why these are so ineffective and potentially harmful) and so fall into the trap of continuing to binge eat.
- Continuing concerns about weight
and appearance. Low self esteem and feelings of low self
worth can contribute to causes of eating disorders, especially when
connected with concerns about weight and appearance. If an individuals
self esteem and self worth remain low, then the disordered eating
behaviour may continue, despite continued efforts to stop.
- Relationships and other stressors. External influences have a massive effect on us as individuals, and stressful situations including difficult relationships can continue to be one of the causes of eating disorders and act as a trigger to binge eating or other eating problems unless effectively tackled. Assertiveness, learning to recognise and handle emotions, and stress control techniques can be learned to increase personal resourcefulness, and it can be useful to find other sources of support.
- Ongoing dieting. You can learn here why dieting can contribute to the development of eating distress, and if it is continued, the problem is likely to persist. It is far better to develop a healthy balanced relationship with food, focusing on healthy eating, with your weight reaching a natural level for you as the unique individual you are, while learning to accept your body and yourself.
- Continued drive to exert control. This might be more a contributing factor in disorders such as anorexia, but if someone feels out of control in some way in their life, they may continue to use food or dieting as a way of regaining a sense of control.
With such knowledge of some of the maintaining factors and causes of eating disorders, I hope you will feel in a better position to understand your own experiences. Please explore the rest of our website, and I hope it will help you move towards your new future free from the causes of eating disorders such as binge eating or other eating distress.
