Brain Over Binge
Page 28
But why leave it to chance? Urges will assuredly go away if the binge eater stops binge eating, so why not stop it now? Since any path to recovery eventually and essentially involves a cessation of binge eating, why put it off any longer? To feel the urges to binge and not act on them is the quickest, simplest, and easiest path to a full recovery. It trains the brain to undo the habit right then and there and gradually puts a stop to the urges. It is also a foolproof protection against relapse, because if one never acts on an urge to binge, one can never relapse. If such a simple solution is available, why would anyone want to wait around for months or years for the urges to possibly go away? There is no reason to stop therapy if therapy is serving a useful purpose—as long as the binge eater changes her perspective surrounding the urges to binge and stops acting on them.
41: Conclusion
Fulfilling some need ...
My binge eating certainly did fulfill needs, but not the complex emotional needs that my therapists spoke of. It fulfilled the needs of my survival drives; then it fulfilled my lower brain's need to maintain the very habit it started. If only someone had told me bulimia was a simple brain problem from the moment I entered therapy, I could have easily fixed it. This is now my mission—to be that someone who tells other binge eaters that a simple and quick recovery is possible, without therapy.
If you are bulimic, or if you suffer from binge eating disorder, or if you binge only occasionally, I want to tell you that there is nothing wrong with you. You have only temporarily become a victim of your own healthy brain. If you are confused by therapy and not finding help there, I want to tell you that I believe there is a quicker and more cost-effective way to stop your behavior. I want to tell you that you can learn to view your binge eating differently—not as a symptom of underlying emotional issues, but as a symptom of something very real and concrete going on in your brain. I want to tell you that change is much easier if you dismiss the belief that you binge for deeper, more profound reasons, and instead learn how your lower brain works to keep you binge eating. I want to tell you that you have the power to take control of your actions, overcome your habit, and escape the daily torment binge eating brings.
The bottom line is: in order to recover from bulimia—or stop any other habit, for that matter—you have to stop the behavior. It is the simple and difficult truth. My own experience leads me to believe it is possible to quit on your own, even right now—without undergoing a major character transformation, without spending thousands of dollars on therapists or treatment centers, without stopping your life, and without having to deal with your eating disorder every day for the rest of your life. I truly believe that if I did it, anyone can; because, believe me, there is nothing special about me—and yet I was able to change my brain to erase any desire to binge eat.
Repeating the same old destructive behavior is not only a problem of bulimics, binge eaters, and other addicts; it's a problem shared by the whole human race. We humans are the lucky ones, though, because we do not have to follow every impulse from our brains. We can observe our own thoughts and feelings, and from moment to moment, we can choose which ones we will follow through on and which ones we will disregard.
Our marvelous highest human brains give us great responsibility. We have the ability to write our brains' own programs by what we repeatedly do. This means that our actions carry much weight. Each day, we can choose to act in ways that are consistent with our goals and identities, or we can make poor choices and let bad habits take hold. What we do will affect our futures in a very real and physical way, by altering the neural footprints in our brains.
I hope that reading my story has helped those of you caught up in binge eating to detach yourself from the urges that drive you to destructive actions and disregard them. I hope that it has helped you see that you truly do have a choice in how you act and that your choices can change you. I can't say what your life after bulimia or BED will be like, and I can't guarantee that you will achieve great things or be transformed into the person you want to be. But I do know that once you free yourself from binge eating, you will be free to discover your own possibilities.
Notes
Preface
1. Michel and Willard, When Dieting Becomes Dangerous, 54.
2. Michel and Willard, When Dieting Becomes Dangerous, 30.
3. Michel and Willard, When Dieting Becomes Dangerous, 73-74.
4. Kaye, "Eating Disorders."
5. Medina, Bulimia, 45.
6. Bulik and Taylor, Runaway Eating, 57.
7. Walsh and Cameron, If Your Adolescent Has an Eating Disorder, 84.
8. Eating Disorders Coalition, "Facts About Eating Disorders."
Introduction
9. Walsh and Cameron, If Your Adolescent Has an Eating Disorder, 22.
10. Kirkpatrick and Caldwell, Eating Disorders, 56.
11. Kirkpatrick and Caldwell, Eating Disorders, 57.
12. Walsh and Cameron, If Your Adolescent Has an Eating Disorder, 5.
13. Kirkpatrick and Caldwell, Eating Disorders, 56.
14. Walsh and Cameron, If Your Adolescent Has an Eating Disorder, 22.
Chapter 6
15. American Psychiatric Association, DSM-IV-TR, 585.
16. American Psychiatric Association, DSM-IV-TR, 591.
17. American Psychiatric Association, DSM-IV-TR, 591.
18. Michel and Willard, When Dieting Becomes Dangerous, 30.
19. National Institute of Mental Health, "How Are We Working."
20. Walsh and Cameron, If Your Adolescent Has an Eating Disorder, 77.
Chapter 10
21. Trimpey, Rational Recovery, 6, 9.
22. Trimpey, Rational Recovery, 124.
23. Czerner, What Makes You Tick, 18.
24. Trimpey, Rational Recovery, 110.
25. Trimpey, Rational Recovery, 113.
26. Trimpey, Rational Recovery, 36.
27. Trimpey, Rational Recovery, 120-122.
28. Trimpey, Rational Recovery, 114.
Chapter 12
29. Trimpey, Rational Recovery, 181.
Chapter 15
30. Kirkpatrick and Caldwell, Eating Disorders, 166.
31. Normandi and Roark, It's Not About Food, xxi.
32. Heller, Eating Disorders, 111.
33. Johnston, Eating in the Light of the Moon, 173.
34. Michel and Willard, When Dieting Becomes Dangerous, 76.
35. National Eating Disorders Association, "Learn Basic Terms and Information."
36. National Eating Disorders Association, "Learn Basic Terms and Information."
37. American Psychiatric Association, DSM-IV-TR, 594.
38. Davison and Neale, Abnormal Psychology, 225.
39. Kraly, Brain Science and Psychological Disorders, 155.
Chapter 17
40. Heller, Eating Disorders, 8; Barnhill and Taylor, If You Think You Have an Eating Disorder, 2, 58, 65-66; and Charney and Nestler, Neurobiology of Mental Illness, 1349.
41. Charney and Nestler, Neurobiology of Mental Illness, 1350-1351.
42. Michel and Willard, When Dieting Becomes Dangerous, 31.
43. Boggiano et al., "Combined Dieting and Stress Evoke Exaggerated Responses to Opioids."
44. Michel and Willard, When Dieting Becomes Dangerous, 32-33.
45. Hagan and Moss, "An Animal Model of Bulimia Nervosa"; and Hagan et al., "Combined Naloxone and Fluoxetine."
46. Noback et al., The Human Nervous System, 371.
47. Noback et al., The Human Nervous System, 378.
48. Noback et al., The Human Nervous System, 371.
49. Kraly, Brain Science and Psychological Disorders, 154.
50. Noback et al., The Human Nervous System, 373.
51. Noback et al., The Human Nervous System, 371.
52. Noback et al., The Human Nervous System, 373.
53. Shapiro, Animal Models of Human Psychology, 117.
54. Noback et al., The Human Nervous System, 380.
5
5. Noback et al., The Human Nervous System, 380.
56. Kraly, Brain Science and Psychological Disorders, 46.
57. Kraly, Brain Science and Psychological Disorders, 46.
58. Kraly, Brain Science and Psychological Disorders, 46.
59. Kraly, Brain Science and Psychological Disorders, 47.
60. Kraly, Brain Science and Psychological Disorders, 47.
61. Kraly, Brain Science and Psychological Disorders, 47.
62. Czerner, What Makes You Tick, 20.
63. Normandi and Roark, It's Not About Food, 2.
64. Barnhill and Taylor, If You Think You Have an Eating Disorder, 68.
65. Nunley, "How the Adolescent Brain Challenges the Adult Brain."
66. Gurian, Nurture the Nature, 242.
67. Goldberg, The Executive Brain, 215.
68. Nunley, "How the Adolescent Brain Challenges the Adult Brain."
69. Michel and Willard, When Dieting Becomes Dangerous, 24.
70. Goldberg, The Executive Brain, 141.
71. Goldberg, The Executive Brain, 141.
72. Goldberg, The Executive Brain, 144.
73. Czerner, What Makes You Tick, 23.
74. Boggiano et al., "Combined Dieting and Stress Evoke Exaggerated Responses to Opioids."
75. Dum and Herz, "Activation of Hypothalamic Beta-Endorphin Pools"; and Welch et al., "Palatability-Induced Hyperphagia."
Chapter 18
76. Walsh and Cameron, If Your Adolescent Has an Eating Disorder, 34.
77. Glass, The Animal Within Us, 38.
78. Glass, The Animal Within Us, 39.
79. Charney and Nestler, Neurobiology of Mental Illness, 1349.
80. Kaye, "Eating Disorders."
81. Lilenfeld et al., "Eating Disorders and Personality."
Chapter 19
82. Hagan et al., "The Effect of Hypothalamic Peptide YY."
83. Glass, The Animal Within Us, 138.
84. Hagan and Moss, "An Animal Model of Bulimia Nervosa"; and Hagan and Moss, "Persistence of Binge-Eating Patterns."
85. Hagan and Moss, "An Animal Model of Bulimia Nervosa."
86. Coscina and Dixon, "Body Weight Regulation in Anorexia Nervosa."
87. Keys, Brozek, and Henschel, The Biology of Human Starvation, 783-818.
88. Hagan et al., "The Role of Palatable Food and Hunger as Trigger Factors"; and Coscina and Dixon, "Body Weight Regulation in Anorexia Nervosa."
89. Boggiano et al., "Combined Dieting and Stress Evoke Exaggerated Responses to Opioids."
90. Hagan and Moss, "Persistence of Binge-Eating Patterns."
Chapter 20
91. Folensbee, The Neuroscience of Psychological Therapies, 17.
92. Schwartz and Begley, The Mind and the Brain, 107.
93. Schwartz and Begley, The Mind and the Brain, 108.
94. Schwartz and Begley, The Mind and the Brain, 15.
95. Schwartz and Begley, The Mind and the Brain, 15.
96. Schwartz and Begley, The Mind and the Brain, 130.
97. Czerner, What Makes You Tick, 64.
98. Begley, Train Your Mind, Change Your Brain, 8-9.
99. Schwartz and Begley, The Mind and the Brain, 366.
100. Schwartz and Begley, The Mind and the Brain, 165.
101. National Institute of Mental Health, "How Are We Working."
102. National Institute of Mental Health, "How Are We Working."
103. Kraly, Brain Science and Psychological Disorders, 149.
104. McElroy et al., "Role of Antiepileptic Drugs in the Management of Eating Disorders."
105. McElroy et al., "Role of Antiepileptic Drugs in the Management of Eating Disorders."
106. McElroy et al., "Role of Antiepileptic Drugs in the Management of Eating Disorders."
107. McElroy et al., "Role of Antiepileptic Drugs in the Management of Eating Disorders."
108. McElroy et al., "Role of Antiepileptic Drugs in the Management of Eating Disorders."
109. Charney and Nestler, Neurobiology of Mental Illness, 1355.
110. Bulik and Taylor, Runaway Eating, 79.
111. McElroy et al., "Role of Antiepileptic Drugs in the Management of Eating Disorders."
112. McElroy et al., "Role of Antiepileptic Drugs in the Management of Eating Disorders."
113. Boggiano et al., "Combined Dieting and Stress Evoke Exaggerated Responses to Opioids"; and Bencherif et al., "Regional μ-Opioid Receptor Binding."
114. Boggiano et al., "Combined Dieting and Stress Evoke Exaggerated Responses to Opioids."
115. Boggiano et al., "Combined Dieting and Stress Evoke Exaggerated Responses to Opioids."
116. Miller, Binge Breaker, 64.
117. Kraly, Brain Science and Psychological Disorders, 151.
118. Davis, Strachan, and Berkson, "Sensitivity to Reward"; and Beaver et al., "Individual Differences in Reward Drive."
119. McElroy et al., "Role of Antiepileptic Drugs in the Management of Eating Disorders."
120. Marsh et al., "Deficient Activity in the Neural Systems"; and Mikami et al., "Eating Pathology Among Adolescent Girls."
121. Marsh et al., "Deficient Activity in the Neural Systems."
122. Mikami et al., "Eating Pathology Among Adolescent Girls."
123. Spurrell et al., "Age of Onset for Binge Eating."
124. Society for the Study of Ingestive Behavior, "High-Fat, High-Sugar Foods Alter Brain Receptors."
125. Society for the Study of Ingestive Behavior, "High-Fat, High-Sugar Foods Alter Brain Receptors."
126. Pelchat, "Food Addiction in Humans."
127. Avena, Rada, and Hoebel, "Sugar and Fat Bingeing Have Notable Differences."
Chapter 21
128. Glass, The Animal Within Us, 84.
129. Trimpey, Rational Recovery, 120.
130. Shapiro, Animal Models of Human Psychology, 137.
131. Avena, Rada, and Hoebel, "Evidence for Sugar Addiction."
132. Ratey, A User's Guide to the Brain, 243.
133. Bulik and Taylor, Runaway Eating, 145.
134. Miller, Binge Breaker, 64
135. Glass, The Animal Within Us, 81.
136. Beaver et al., "Individual Differences in Reward Drive."
137. Beaver et al., "Individual Differences in Reward Drive."
138. Beaver et al., "Individual Differences in Reward Drive."
Chapter 22
139. Medina, Bulimia, 61.
140. Michel and Willard, When Dieting Becomes Dangerous, 51.
141. Michel and Willard, When Dieting Becomes Dangerous, 51.
142. Walsh and Cameron, If Your Adolescent Has an Eating Disorder, 77.
143. Medina, Bulimia, 61.
144. Michel and Willard, When Dieting Becomes Dangerous, 55.
145. Medina, Bulimia, 62.
146. Medina, Bulimia, 61.
147. Kraly, Brain Science and Psychological Disorders, 151.
148. Medina, Bulimia, 62.
149. Schwartz and Begley, The Mind and the Brain, 333-334.
150. Barnhill and Taylor, If You Think You Have an Eating Disorder, 166.
151. Walsh and Cameron, If Your Adolescent Has an Eating Disorder, 84.
152. Avena, "Examining the Addictive-Like Properties of Binge Eating."
153. Michel and, When Dieting Becomes Dangerous, 43.
154. Lore, The Pathfinder, 135.
Chapter 23
155. Goldberg, The Executive Brain, 209.
156. Ratey, A User's Guide to the Brain, 31.
157. Schwartz and Begley, The Mind and the Brain, 366.
158. Pliszka, Neuroscience for the Mental Health Clinician, 107.
159. Glass, The Animal Within Us, 70.
160. Glass, The Animal Within Us, 70.
161. Pliszka, Neuroscience for the Mental Health Clinician, 120.
162. Schwartz and Begley, The Mind and the Brain, 311.
163. Pliszka, Neuroscience for the Mental Health Clinician, 82.
164. Go
ldberg, The Executive Brain, 35-36.
165. Goldberg, The Executive Brain, 35-36, referencing W. J. Nauta, "Neural Associations of the Frontal Cortex," Acta Neurobiologiae Experimentalis 32, no. 2 (1972): 125-140.
166. Goldberg, The Executive Brain, 215.
167. Goldberg, The Executive Brain, 218.
168. Schwartz and Begley, The Mind and the Brain, 306.
169. Schwartz and Begley, The Mind and the Brain, 307.
Chapter 25
170. Schwartz and Begley, The Mind and the Brain, 55.
171. Schwartz and Begley, The Mind and the Brain, 75.
172. Schwartz and Begley, The Mind and the Brain, 75.
173. Schwartz and Begley, The Mind and the Brain, 316.
174. Charney and Nestler, Neurobiology of Mental Illness, 1349.
175. Charney and Nestler, Neurobiology of Mental Illness, 1349.
176. Kirkpatrick and Caldwell, Eating Disorders, 25.
177. Michel and Willard, When Dieting Becomes Dangerous, 8-9.
178. Begley, Train Your Mind, Change Your Brain, 139.
179. Schwartz and Begley, The Mind and the Brain, 13.
180. Schwartz and Begley, The Mind and the Brain, 82.
181. Schwartz and Begley, The Mind and the Brain, 339.
182. Schwartz and Begley, The Mind and the Brain, 333-334.
183. Schwartz and Begley, The Mind and the Brain, 361.
184. Schwartz and Begley, The Mind and the Brain, 339.
185. Schwartz and Begley, The Mind and the Brain, 368.
186. Schaefer, Life Without Ed.
Chapter 26
187. Pliszka, Neuroscience for the Mental Health Clinician, 83.
188. Folensbee, The Neuroscience of Psychological Therapies, 23.