Evolving Minds Counselling
and Psychology
Binge Eating Therapy in Sydney and the Sutherland Shire
Binge eating can feel like being caught in a cycle that is difficult to stop. You may find yourself eating much more than you intended, feeling unable to stop once you have started, and then experiencing guilt, shame or regret afterwards. You might promise yourself it will be different next time, only to find the same pattern happening again.
For some people, binge eating happens in clear episodes. For others, it can be harder to recognise, particularly when emotional eating, restricting food or irregular eating have gradually become part of everyday life.
At Evolving Minds Counselling and Psychology, our psychologists, counsellors and therapists provide binge eating disorder therapy for children, adolescents and adults across Sydney and the Sutherland Shire. Appointments are available in person at our Menai practice in Sydney’s south and via secure telehealth across Australia.
What is binge eating disorder?
Binge eating disorder involves recurring episodes of eating a large amount of food while feeling unable to stop or control what you are eating. Afterwards, you may feel guilt, shame or distress and wonder why it keeps happening even when you desperately want things to change.
Binge eating is not simply about willpower or a lack of self-control. Episodes can be connected to difficult emotions, stress, restriction or patterns around food that have developed over time. The urge to binge can feel powerful, and the cycle can become increasingly difficult to break on your own.
Unlike bulimia nervosa, binge eating disorder does not typically involve regular compensatory behaviours such as vomiting or other attempts to compensate for what has been eaten.
Binge eating can occur alongside anxiety, depression, trauma, ADHD, difficulties with emotional regulation and body image concerns. Some people may also experience other patterns of disordered eating or symptoms associated with eating disorders such as bulimia nervosa.
What's the difference between binge eating and disordered eating?
You may not know whether what you are experiencing is binge eating disorder. Perhaps you eat when you feel overwhelmed, restrict food during the day and overeat later, move between strict food rules and feeling out of control, or find yourself thinking about food far more than you want to.
Binge eating disorder involves repeated episodes of eating large amounts of food while feeling unable to stop or control what you are eating. Disordered eating can look different. It might involve emotional eating, restricting and overeating, rigid food rules or an ongoing struggle with food that does not fit the pattern of binge eating disorder.
Therapy can help you understand the patterns that have developed around food and what may be keeping them going.
How can therapy help with binge eating disorder?
Therapy can help you understand what is driving the cycle of binge eating, rather than focusing on food or willpower alone. This might include recognising what happens before the urge to binge, understanding the role of emotions or restriction, and beginning to change patterns that have become difficult to break.
Our clinicians draw on evidence-based binge eating disorder therapy approaches, including CBT-E, DBT-E and ACT, alongside attachment-informed and trauma-informed therapy.
Where appropriate, we also work with your GP, dietitian, psychiatrist or other members of your treating team.
Our team includes an ANZAED credentialed eating disorder clinician, and all clinicians have completed additional training in eating disorders.
Binge eating disorder therapy in Sydney and the Sutherland Shire
If binge eating is becoming harder to manage, or you feel caught in a cycle of restricting, bingeing and trying to regain control of your eating, you do not have to keep managing it on your own.
If you have been searching for a binge eating psychologist or binge eating therapy near you, our psychologists, counsellors and therapists provide evidence-based binge eating therapy across Sydney and the Sutherland Shire.
Appointments are available in person at our Menai practice and via secure online appointments across Australia.
If you’re unsure where to begin, our Client Care Team can assist. Call 02 8519 4197 or use the button below to request an appointment.