Brain Over the Binge - the review

So, it took a little while, but I finally finished Brain over Binge by Kathryn Hansen. I am sorry that this review is  not very well organized and is so long, I wanted to touch on everything, but it's just not possible.

I highly recommend this book for anyone who deals with Binge Eating, but with a few caveats. This book:

• does not endorse traditional eating disorder therapy methods (though she doesn't totally bash them either)
• does not link binge eating with emotional problems 
• does not consider eating disorders (or other addictions) a disease over which the patient has no control
• advocates personal responsibility - ending binge eating is and always has been in your hands
• shows binge eating to be a multifaceted problem dealing with the brain, brain chemistry, and habit
• defines "recovery" as the absence of binge eating, NOT finding happiness, self discovery, a healthy body image, self esteem etc. (the binge eater can work on that after she stops binging)
• links binge eating to "healthy" brain function and habit, not emotional episodes or other triggers
• will not work unless the binge eater is 100% ready to change their behaviors
• is not designed to replace binge eating with restrictive dieting 

I wanted to get all of that out of the way, because if you're looking for a book that is going to help you be a better person on top of reducing binge eating, or is going to give you even more distraction techniques when you feel the urge to binge (you know what I mean - journaling, calling a friend etc - the ones you never remember to use until after a binge), then this book isn't for you.  If normal therapy methods are getting you results, this may or may not be the book for you. She discusses the short comings of traditional therapy and why it may actually hinder the recovery of an eating disorder, but does at the end offer some bridges between the Rational Recovery model and traditional therapy.

Okay - on with the review.

If you are a binge eater, or bulimic, you will probably relate to the author's story. I know that I did. The feelings that she discusses, before, during and after a binge eating episodes I feel like she could have taken right from my head. That's why I decided to keep reading the book. She also felt dissatisfied with normal therapy techniques. Normal therapy will generally link eating disorders to other problems in our lives - sadness, loneliness, stress, abuse, fear of (fill in the blank) - and work on those issues as a method to cure the eating disorder.  What this does, according to Hansen is that it actually serves to reinforce the eating disorder and excuse "relapses."   Traditional therapy will also not consider the patient "recovered" unless the other issues are dealt with.  Hansen does not hold to this. Recovery for her was the abstinence from binging and purging, and the lack of urges to binge and purge. The other problems, like depression, low self-esteem, and unhealthy body image are just parts of her personality that she continues to work on, but are not linked to her (former) eating disorder.

Brain Over Binge appealed to me because it advocates Rational Recovery over an addiction, that is it advocates personal responsibility. Which means, it is, and always has been with in the power of the binge eater to stop. That is a hard pill to swallow. I knew on some level that I was responsible for my binge eating, but also couldn't help the feeling of loss of control when having a binge eating episode. I think that is why this eating disorder is so very frustrating. Unlike twelve step programs that tell the addicted person that they are powerless, Rational recovery puts all the power in their hands and says, "it's up to you." It seems overly simplistic - like the cure is "just stop" - but there is more to it than that. Yes "just stop" is the cure, but there is a way to "just stop" and if we had known that we would have done it already.

Hansen basically chronicles her battle with anorexia followed by exercise bulimia, the therapy and approaches she tried in that time and finally her recovery after reading Rational Recovery by Jack Trimpey. She then goes into the science behind the theory of RR and why she believes that it does work. It is all her own research since she is not a scientist. There are few things I didn't quite agree with, but she makes no bones about this being her  experience. So when she says that adults are less likely to be binge eaters or restrictive dieters, I understand that she didn't research that because it is outside her realm of experience. I did appreciate that she touches on anorexia and the fact that this type of therapy may not work for them - since theirs is an addiction in reverse. And while she didn't believe that most traditional therapies work for ED patients, she did include some ways of doing both RR and trad therapy. Most objections that I raised in my mind while reading, she eventually addressed in later chapters, so I felt like it was well rounded, thought out and put together book.

The basic premis for Rational Recovery and ending any addiction (RR was originally written for alcoholics and drug users as an alternative to AA - which advocates spirituality in the form of a higher power and powerlessness against the addiction) is that your adiction is not you. Your true self is one that tells you don't want to binge eat, it is the one that feels guilty afterward, it is the one that tries to reward you with manicures, and new clothes, and sends you to the gym after a binge. It is the rational part of your brain. It is also the part of your brain that controls your motor functions, so technially speaking your true self - your higher brain function - can stop you from binge eating.  The trick is to shut up the lower brain, the Animal brain, your Addictive Voice that is telling you to binge eat. This part of the brain can only suggest you do something, it can only urge you to binge. It is working purely from instict - it wants food, it wants pleasure, it is throwing a temper tantrum in your brain to get what it wants - your higher brain is the parent giving in to that tantrum and every time we do give in we make it more likely to happen again. Hansen lays out five steps for ending binge eating:

1. know that the urge is neurological junk from the lower brain and not really you
2. separate the higher brain (the real you) from the animal brain (your addictive voice)
3. stop reacting emotionally to these urges
4. stop acting on the urges
5. get excited

Hansendetails how she used these steps, though some admittedly are a little vague, to break the urges and the habit of binge eating. She came to the realization of these steps after her recovery.

You can look alot of this up on RationalRecovery.org - warning the website is horribly dated, looks like it was made in 1995 - there's good free information - I though the crash course was good, though as I said, looks like it was built on geocities. Don't get suckered in paying for anything though. I am going to begin reading Rational Recovery by Jack Trimpey which is the book that Hansen read before recovering and which her book is partly based (that and her research about the brain, highly palatable foods, and habit formation).

Why did I put stock in this book? I immediately related to Hansen's story and frustrations.  I think everyone reading this blog has probably thought that their binge episodes were emotionally related (I know I have). I binge when I'm sad, when I'm lonely, angry, bored, disappointed with my body, happy with my body, close to my goal weight, I binge because I binged and I say fuck it, I binge when I have been eating healthy and "deserve" it. I've also always had problems with my self-esteem and depression. When my body image was at it's absolute lowest, I did not binge eat. It made no sense to me that working on these other problems would help me. Since I couldn't find any identifiable pattern to my binge eating.  I also have been unable to use distractions - journaling, blogging, calling a friend - when the urge to binge strikes. The urge put me on autopilot and until it was over I wasn't myself.  I also didn't like 12 step programs because deep down I did understand that I was accountable and therefore could not believe in step 1 "admit you are over your addiction."  (There is more on the RR website about why 12 steps are not good for addicts, while many people see this as AA bashing, I tend to agree with it.)

It's gonna be difficult. I don't believe that ending my binge eating is going to be easy. Simple does not mean easy. And a part of me knows that I want to swing in the other direction, from binging to restriction. But I put it in my bullet points, because trading one addiction for the other isn't the point of this book. Eating "normally" is. So, I know that I am going struggle and I will have to focus on healthy eating not restriction, and healthy exercise not trying to burn every calorie I eat.  If you are looking for a book that will take you from binge eating to an ultra low calorie starvation diet, I would say this book probably isn't for you. But if you just want control of your eating and to eliminate not just binge eating but the urge to binge, then I would highly recommend it.

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Notes about my blog - I've reverted back to my old URL, but am keeping my profile private in case anyone links from the comment I left on my IRL friend's blog. I may eventually move everything to a new profile, but I'll give some warning before then.