Binge Eating on the Rise During Pandemic

“I have negative thoughts all the time, and the only thing that helps me feel better is food. As long as I don't think about anything, the problems disappear and that gives me some breathing room. It is as if during those 15 minutes I felt peace. I realize that I am comforted by having eaten, even if I am not hungry. Sometimes I try to resist the strong desire to eat after a situation that makes me anxious, sad, or simply uncomfortable, but once I start eating, I do it faster and faster, I gobble up the food almost automatically, and at that moment, I know that I have lost control. Then I feel bad and remorseful and feelings of shame and guilt appear. If I'm not hungry, why do I have to binge? It all started when I was 10 years old and my alcoholic parents spent much of their time in the bar across the street from our house. I discovered that food anesthetized my discomfort, and since then it has become my biggest secret.”

This is a real statement by a person who went to a psychology professional in a situation of instability and constant binge eating. These binges appear to have increased after confinement during the pandemic.

There are several signs that may indicate binge eating. Fundamental characteristics include eating an excessive amount of food and feeling a loss of control. Binges often begin with a strong desire to eat, especially high-calorie foods. Because of this, getting food takes on extreme importance. The speed of eating during binge eating is fast, and the food is eaten with hardly any chewing. It is also common to walk or move restlessly while eating compulsively.

At first, the emotions are pleasant, but soon after, feelings of discomfort begin to appear. Some people describe binge eating as being in a trance. That is as if they weren’t the ones eating. And there are those who use distractions to avoid thinking about what they are doing. In addition to this, binge eating is often triggered by negative emotions such as loneliness, sadness, anger, boredom, or anxiety. These are behaviors that are kept secret.

In the latest (fifth) edition of the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5), the main eating disorders are anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and binge eating disorder. It has been estimated that they affect 15 percent of the world's population, and their incidence continues to increase. Binge eating can occur in all three eating disorder manifestations. However, in binge eating disorder, subsequent compensatory behaviors, such as self-induced vomiting and the use of enemas or laxatives, do not occur. This can happen in anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa. In addition, the DMS-5 states that binge eating must occur at least once a week for three months to be considered a binge eating disorder.

Despite its multifactorial etiology, traumatic experiences have been shown to contribute to the development of eating disorders, especially binge eating. A recent study published in Frontiers in Psychology found that 91.5 percent of people who binged reported a history of trauma. Binge eating is considered a nonverbal communication modality of painful aspects that are difficult to verbalize. They provide short-term secondary benefits that result in their maintenance over time. They are described by Professor Esteban Laso as “a strategy that was used on one occasion with ‘positive’ results and that continued to be used more and more until it ‘appropriated’ the identity of the person and their relational circuits.” Traumatic experiences (such as death, divorce, parental conflict, parental emotional distance, physical, psychological or sexual violence, etc.) can cause great emotional turmoil in people.

In addition, some people may have difficulty verbalizing the discomfort or do not have anyone to support them. They avoid talking about it, they use jokes or irony to downplay it, or they appear inaccessible and emotionally distanced. In these cases, binge eating may provide short-term relief from negative emotions related to the trauma. Binge eating helps individuals to avoid thinking or shifting attention from what really worries them, hurts them, or things they cannot control to another, more bearable, and self-controlled problem.

Consequently, food in eating disorders has a symbolic meaning. It provides emotional comfort, reduces negative and stressful emotions, and facilitates emotional disconnection or anesthesia from traumatic events. This is how intolerance to negative emotions is generated, and binge eating will occur every time they are experienced. However, the avoided pain remains, increases, and emerges as a symptom, as is the case with binge eating. As Sigmund Freud said: “Unexpressed emotions never die. They are buried alive and come out later in uglier forms.”

The COVID-19 pandemic appears to have triggered an increase in cases of eating disorders. It also aggravated pre-existing symptoms. More specifically, binge eating not only increased significantly among people who already had this problem before pandemic confinement but also increased among the general population. Above all, people with early trauma have been found to be particularly vulnerable.

There are many reasons that could explain the apparent increase. The pandemic has increased feelings of loneliness, sadness, stress, and decreased feelings of control. As already noted, these emotions precede binge eating. In addition, traumatic experiences increased during this period. During the lockdowns, individuals felt emotions that were previously anesthetized or buried due to the frenetic activity of everyday life and the decrease in daily stimuli around us. Consequently, binge eating has been used as a dysfunctional way of coping, relieving negative emotions, and regaining a sense of control.

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This article was co-written with Janire Momeñe López, Ph.D., and Dr. Ana Isabel Estévez Gutiérrez, Ph.D., both at the University of Deusto, Bilbao, Spain.