Objective vs. Subjective Binges

One of the things that I see frequently is someone who eats a “normal” amount of food, but that eating event is accompanied by all of the other hallmarks of a binge eating episode.  What happens in this case?

In prior blog posts, I referenced Loss of Control as well as other indicators of a binge episode (eating alone, shame at how much was eaten, feeling uncomfortably full, and others).  It’s entirely possible for someone to experience a loss of control and other components of a binge, but they not eat enough food for it to be considered “objectively large”!

In these cases, we simply say they did not binge eat.  You can only binge eat if you’ve eaten a large enough amount of food.  However, we do have a term for this type of eating.  We call it a Subjective Binge Episode.  I’ll outline these below!

Objective Binge Episode (OBE):  This is a binge episode.  A person has eaten a large enough amount of food in the required time period, they have experienced a loss of control over their eating, and they also experienced the additional emotional and behavioral indicators of a binge.

Subjective Binge Episode (SBE):  This is not a binge episode.  The individual has felt a loss of control over their eating, and they have the additional binge indicators, but they have not eaten a large amount of food.

SBE’s happen far more often than people realize.  SBE’s happen when a person eats more than they wanted while dieting, or they eat a “forbidden food” that they have been avoiding.  After they’ve done this, they will oftentimes feel awful, just as they would if they had eaten an objectively large amount of food.  It’s a tough thing to experience, and it’s very common! 

By way of example, I recall speaking with someone who was incredibly upset at having eaten two slices of pizza for lunch instead of one.  They felt out of control the entire time, cried during their lunch break before, during, and after they ate, and were astounded that it would not be considered a binge episode.  This isn’t to say that this person would not have benefitted from therapy, but we can concretely and clearly say that what they experienced was not an objectively large binge.

Most often when people experience SBE’s, they are also engaging in what we would consider Objective Binge Episodes.  It’s much less common for SBE’s to occur without any OBE’s, but it is sometimes seen.  Thinking about diagnoses – while someone who exclusively engages in SBE’s won’t get a diagnosis of Binge Eating Disorder or Bulimia, it is possible they may receive a different eating disorder diagnosis, but it’s also possible they won’t meet criteria for any mental health disorder at all.