CPOY 75 Interpretive Project Silver: Day 1 - Binge Eating Disorder
Binge eating disorder (BED) is the most widespread eating disorder in Denmark. It is a severe, life-threatening disorder characterized by recurrent episodes of eating large quantities of food. Going along is a feeling of loss of control during the binge and experiencing shame, distress or guilt afterwards. Suffering from BED is closely related with bad self- esteem, often a difficult childhood, sometimes abuse and a life centered around weight loss. Few people know about the phenomena, but 40.000-50.000 Danes are suffering from it. Their lives are all about hiding what they consume. They have all tried every possible diet but every time it ends in failure. And for every pound lost there are more pounds gained. Obsessive thoughts about food are constantly there. All though BED is the most widespread eating disorder in Denmark, there are only very few opportunities to receive treatment. Recently WHO has released the new international classification of diseases (ICD 11), and BED is now to be recognised a an eating disorder. It will come into effect on the 1st of January 2022.
Troels lives temporarily for four months at a folk school, named Ubberup Højskole, that focuses on weight loss and wellbeing. He hopes to lose some weight, but more importantly to find some sort of balance. “I dream of having a better balance within. And to understand why I do what I do. When I am in imbalance I am stressed out and in a bad mood. I don’t have any energy. I shut down completely and feel like my life is passing by. I don’t want to use any more of my life feeling like that.” Troels has always been overweight and has also suffered from depression. “It was like nothing mattered and I had no energy. At one point I was thinking about suicide. One day I was sitting in the classroom starring at a brick in the wall underneath the blackboard. I sat like that the whole day not noticing at all what anyone was saying. I was just tired, felt like a failure and did not know what to do “.
