online conference transcript

Binge Eating / Compulsive Overeating Online Conference with Joanna Poppink, MFCC

Bob M is the moderator.

BEGINNING

Bob M: Good evening everyone. I'm Bob McMillan, the moderator for tonight's conference. Welcome and I'm glad you could make it. Our topic tonight is Binge Eating/Compulsive Overeating. We're going to discuss some of the reasons behind it and then give you some concrete answers to the question of how you can overcome it...or deal with it. Our guest tonight is psychotherapist, Joanna Poppink, MFCC. Joanna has been in private practice in Los Angeles, California for nearly 18 years. In her practice, she has worked with many overeaters and helped them deal with the challenges they face because of their overeating. In addition, Joanna has written a guidebook of sorts, which is posted on the internet entitled: "Triumphant Journey: A Cyberguide to Stop Overeating and Recover From Eating Disorders". I'll be posting the URL for that later in the conference. Good evening Joanna and welcome to the Concerned Counseling website. I'd like to start off by having you describe some of your experience and work with overeaters.

Joanna Poppink: Hello Bob and all. I'm delighted to be with you tonight. Yes, I've been working with people who have eating disorders for many years. My work involves research, deep intimate work with individuals and also explorations into the community with a focus on 12 step programs. In addition, I am continually discovering that metaphors from biology and various sciences, coupled with dream work helps individuals get a closer appreciation and understanding of their own situation.

Bob M: I'm going to assume that people here tonight don't need to be told how to figure out if they are an overeater. But I'd like to know from you, excluding any physical ailment, like hyperthyroidism, etc., why do people overeat?

Joanna Poppink: The short answer to this complex and personal question is this: people overeat or binge because they are experiencing some kind of stress for which they have no tools or skills to handle. This does not, not, not, mean that over eaters or binge eaters have a personal deficiency. Often these people are extremely capable. However, somewhere in their history, they learned to cope with stress through food behaviors because they had no access to other methods of protection, adaptation or development.

Bob M: Are people who overeat readily aware that they aren't coping in a positive way with this stress, or for the most part, does it have to be pointed out to them?

Joanna Poppink: It's usually a mix. First, everyone who comes into therapy is in a different stage of their eating disorder. Some people have been binging and purging for a year or so. Others have been engaging in various eating disorder behaviors for as much as 25 or 35 years. So there is, as you can imagine, a tremendous range of awareness levels. However, while most do know that they use the binging to cope with their lives, they often do not appreciate the details. For example, many people with eating disorders are familiar with binging after a party at home when all the guests have left. Or they are familiar with binging after returning from a wonderful holiday. Certainly they make assumptions about their binging after a sad, tense or painful experience. But they usually do not understand why they may binge after a happy experience.

Bob M: In your cyberguide to stop overeating, you speak of "essential equipment" that are necessary to be free of overeating. Could you elaborate on that please?

Joanna Poppink: Yes. The development of an eating disorder serves a survival purpose. No matter how destructive overeating may be in a person's life, it is maintaining a level of existence that is tolerable, if barely. To begin to tamper with that balance, that system, can release all kinds of surprising and disruptive feelings and actions. The inner equilibrium of the person is disturbed. This is necessary for healing, but it's a shock. So, in preparation for that, the person ready to undertake their healing journey, can know this and gather essential equipment. Examples are: a safe place to communicate either with self or a therapist or both. That means arranging for private time. Setting up a journal, scheduling walks, arranging for telephone contact with trusted people who can be told intimate details, going to 12 step meetings, all this creates tools that help with handling the emotions which will be released in change. Healing from overeating and binging is truly a courageous undertaking. People don't have to take on the challenge bare and alone. There is help and helpful equipment to use along the way.

Bob M: We are speaking with psychotherapist, Joanna Poppink, M.F.C.C., from Los Angeles, California. Joanna has done a lot of research on overeating treatment and works with many overeaters in her practice. She wrote an internet guidebook entitled "Triumphant Journey: A Cyberguide to Stop Overeating and Recover from Eating Disorders". A few other tools mentioned in Joanna's cyberguide include: being honest with yourself, accepting you don't know all the answers and that you will allow others to help, learning to recognize your own limits, gaining an appreciation that your binge eating has gone on for awhile, it won't end overnight, and finally and very importantly, being kind to yourself. I'll be posting the cyberguide url later in the conference. Here are some audience questions Joanna: