The experienced “experts” who are treating people with compulsive overeating disorder at residential facilities and at OA, in my opinion, may be doing more damage than good by using the traditional principles and methods of treatment they’ve been using for years.

Their methods involve restricting diets from day one, creating rules and punishments, finding trigger points, and using diversion instead of dealing with issues. This has been the form of treatment for decades. Is it possible that their old treatment methods could actually be creating more of a binge opportunity and cycle for a compulsive overeater?

Let’s take for example Overeaters Anonymous (OA). Their 12 Step Program is based on the original 12 Steps for Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) which encourages abstinence from the substance altogether. Well we know we can’t do that with food or we will die so the next best thing is restriction.

OA has a very strict diet plan with sponsors checking in daily and I’ve seen individuals use fear as their means to abide by the rules. First of all, food is not the main problem with this disorder. And secondly, how long can that go on without truly damaging a person’s self esteem?

Overeaters Anonymous believes that you will always be a compulsive overeater. They also believe as stated in the second step in the 12 Steps “Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.” What if you don’t believe you were ever insane? What if these beliefs are just years of old thinking that aren’t true?

Residential facilities are somewhat similar to OA in that they require you follow their eating schedule and eat their provided meals. They have group therapy sessions and private ones. You meet with a psychiatrist for your private session and although talking about your issues is a very important element, I have never seen a facility hold classes to teach people how to reduce stress or teach them the tools they need to fend for themselves when they return to reality.

What would happen if we discovered that the old ways of thinking are simply…old?

Now let’s say we taught clients how to reduce stress and use facts without emotions to see the real situations in front of them. What if we taught them how to make the brain want to achieve more by using small chunky goals that helped raise self esteem and self worth? How would they feel if we used positive means instead of resistance to completely heal compulsive overeating? Wouldn’t that be a better way of thinking?

We might just be able to reverse the old way of thinking and get the message out to the world that this disorder IS curable.

This “old way vs. new way” of what we experts think reminds me of when my dad had his heart attack. We were choosing a cardiologist and the first doctor we met had graduated in 1968 and we thought “cool, this guy has so much experience that we should follow him”. But later that night we were introduced to another cardiologist who graduated in 1990. Sure, he didn’t have nearly the years on the job that the first doctor had but this man was trained with the latest technology and specialized in heart catheterization that eliminated the need to perform open heart surgery.

Sometimes the new guy with the new procedure is the way to go!