PTSD and Binge Eating

After reading about PTSD in our book, I was watching Extreme Weight Loss one night and there was a man who experienced PTSD and turned to binge eating to cope with the stress. He ended up gaining about 200 pounds within a year!! I learned that about 1 in 4 people who have PTSD develop a binge eating disorder. People with PTSD have a really hard time thinking about the present and the future because they are preoccupied with their traumatic event. This leads to extreme hunger because they often do not plan for meals. When the extreme hunger hits, they binge eat. Also, they are more likely to eat to mask the pain that they are feeling.

http://www.webmd.com/mental-health/eating-disorders/binge-eating-disorder/features/ptsd-binge-eating