What's an hedonic eater!

What is an hedonic eater?

An hedonic eater is someone whose brain is highly sensitive to food regardless of physical hunger.  Once I take that first bite, I can’t stop.  Especially, when it’s something highly palatable.  For the last 2 years, I’ve thought of myself as a food addict so can a food addict and someone diagnosed with binge eating disorder stop binge eating by practicing and using DBT skills when required.  That is what I intend to find out and I plan on blogging my experience as I learn and practice various DBT skills.

What is Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT)?

DBT is a cognitive behavioural therapy developed by Dr. Marsha Linehan to regulate emotions and tolerate distressing emotions.  

DBT Emotion Regulation Model

To be able to regulate my emotions, I need to be aware of them so it took me a while to recognize my emotions were triggering me to eat.  As mentioned earlier, I’m an hedonic eater. When I eat something highly palatable, my brain gets triggered and I feel an intense desire to eat more. The desire becomes so intolerable that I must eat to escape what I’m feeling. While I’m binging, I feel temporary relief  but it doesn’t last very long.  Feelings of guilt and hopelessness quickly follow, usually setting the stage for further binging. The above is my example of the DBT emotion regulation model. Everybody is different. We can be triggered by all kinds of things in our environment. Anything from a bad day at work, a dispute with your other half or even watching TV.

DBT Biosocial Theory of Emotion Regulation 

The "Bio" part of the model suggests that when somebody is biologically vulnerable to emotions, they are sensitive, they react fast, and it takes a while for their emotions to return to normal.  The "Social" part of the model suggest that somebody was raised and/or living in an invalidating environment.  Your environment sends the message that it's not okay to feel what you're feeling to the point that you yourself start invalidating yourself.  

I grew up repressing my emotions.  I was terrified of rejection as a child and rightfully so.  My own sibling was rejected by my mother so I felt I had to be a "good girl" to survive.  I was raised in an invalidating environment and I invalidated myself on a daily basis by repressing my emotions.  

I found this theory very interesting since people who binge eat may be not only vulnerable to emotions but also to food and its rewarding properties.  

If you're interested in finding out more about DBT Biosocial Theory, I suggest you Google it.  You'll get a more detailed description of what it is.

As I practice DBT Skills, I will practice being more aware of my emotions when I feel the urge to eat when I’m not hungry.  Perhaps, I can connect all the dots using the DBT Emotion Regulation Model as well as its connection to the DBT Biosocial Theory of Emotion Regulation.