From Dalhousie University’s website here 4/15/09:

“Dalhousie’s Dr. Sherry has published “The Perfectionism Model of Binge Eating” in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, along with co-author Peter Hall of the University of Waterloo. By closely following the daily activities of a large group of undergraduates, the researchers believe that they’re the first to identify why perfectionism results in binge eating.

They have also homed in on the type of perfectionist who is most at risk—someone who believes that others are evaluating their performance critically (as opposed to someone who is self-critical). This kind of perfectionist concludes that a parent, a friend or a boss is being harshly judgmental of their performance and pressuring them to be perfect.”

I’m always hypercritical when I read studies like this.  I mean – I know plenty of people who do not have “eating issues” like I do but will occasionally overeat due to stress, mindless eating, boredom, whatever.  I giggled when I remembered Drew Barrymore’s character in Never Been Kissed when she’s talking on the phone eating a pie straight from the pie tin and upon finishing the call goes, “who ate my pie?!”  Classic.

The article continues:  “Binge eating becomes an effort to escape from being overwhelmed with feelings of loneliness, failure and sadness. To temporarily escape from a discouraging reality, it’s necessary to do away with higher order thought. The experience of eating–smelling, chewing, tasting–is immediate and visceral.

‘Think about it–when was the last time that you were rapidly eating a pizza and pondering a major life decision at exactly the same time?’ asks Dr. Sherry.

While binge eating banishes troubles and difficulties in the short term, it also generates powerful negative emotions of guilt and shame that are longer lasting.”

I bolded that sentence because it made me wonder: if the Dr. is so easy to speak in general terms — i.e. when was the last time “you” — binge eating is made to seem like an everyday problem for anyone who has big decisions to make, which is ALL of us.  We all face pressures from a boss or parent or whomever/whatever.  I’m not satisfied with that catch-all, we should all be on meds diagnosis.  The point they should have made more clear is that perfectionists might be more likely to suffer from recurring binge eating because they have excessively high expectations on a DAILY basis.  While most people are able to re-assess their goals or see the big picture enough to brush things off, perfectionists are not likely to do this. Additionally, binge eating becomes an additional failure to add to the list of failed expectations which may further the cycle. I hope the actual journal article clearly distinguishes between overeating and binge eating — since I think people conflate these terms. Also, if the study used undergrads as its sampling pool — DUH, c’mon.  College undergrads are disproportionately self-reflective, stressed and body-conscious compared to another possible sample group.  It’s like using supermodels as your sample pool for a study asking the question, “Is skinny perceived as desirable by women?” Lame!

Since this post is way more serious than I want to be on a Sunday morning, I leave you with this clip from Never Been Kissed:

Tags: binge eating, Dalhousie University, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Never Been Kissed, perfectionism, University of Waterloo