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Compulsive Eating Disorders
Mary E. Barnes, MD
York, Pa
Arch Fam Med. 1993;2(8):813.
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I was disappointed that the article by Yanovski,1 published in the March 1993 issue of the ARCHIVES, did not adequately discuss the frequent association of obesity with compulsive eating. Addiction to food, like alcohol, is an affliction of the mind and spirit as well as the body. Food is all too often used to quell pain that is not physical; physical solutions for psychological and spiritual issues causing pain are not, therefore, likely to result in long-term cures.
I see, for instance, many obese patients (more frequently women, although not all) who were victims of childhood sexual abuse. It is only when they have been able to remember and deal directly with the resurrected pain in a therapeutic setting that they can lose weight in a sustained way. Food is a deep and powerful symbol. It is associated with comfort and with power. It is used to assuage not
. . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]
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