Is it Emotional Eating or Binge Eating Disorder?

Key questions to ask:

Q: Do you ever eat for emotional reasons?

If the person answers yes, then ask:

Q: Would you ever describe it as bingeing?

If the person answers yes you can ask:

Q: Does it ever feel like an out-of-body or out-of-control experience? (Key criteria for BED)

If the person confirms they binge, ALSO ASK:

Q: Do you ever purge or try to make up for bingeing in any way – like vomiting, using laxatives or not eating the next day?

This is a key question to separate out BED from Bulimia. It’s a question a LOT of practitioners resist asking! If you feel resistance towards asking this particular question, watch the video below for more…

Regardless of the responses to the questions above, ALWAYS ask:

Q: Are you often or regularly on a diet? (Because dieting causes high cortisol, low serotonin and low melatonin – good to know!)

Lots of practitioners resist asking some or all of these questions. What came up for YOU as you read through them?

You may believe you should not have to ask because surely a client will tell you anyway?

NOT TRUE!
Shame and secrecy are a key part of the problem. Clients very often don’t disclose their emotional or binge eating. Particularly in medical settings, they often won’t volunteer this information as it may disqualify them from getting treatment – bariatric surgery for example.

You may believe that you ‘can’t ask these questions’ because eating disorders are outside your current scope of practice?

NOT TRUE!
You need to ask so you know what’s going on for each individual person. Then you can decide if you can do some work with them yourself, or need to refer them on.

You may believe that asking about bingeing and purging is going completely off piste!

NOT TRUE!
Simply creating a safe space for someone to talk about their deepest, guiltiest secret is a true gift.

Watch the bonus video below – it’s an extract from one of my recorded masterclasses. I deep dive even further into these questions and how powerful they can be! Regardless of the scope of your practice, you CAN ask these questions.

Will you start asking these questions with the people you support? If you do, let me know how you get on with using them!

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Warmly,
Emma