When Parties Are Your Binge Eating Disorder Trigger

It's one thing to know what your binge eating disorder triggers are, but when one of your binge eating disorder triggers is parties, things can get complicated. How do you cope with your binge eating disorder when one of your triggers is a completely average, social gathering? With the holidays upon us it's natural to get invited to lots of parties and gatherings where triggering food, events, and people might be present. How do you handle it when parties are your binge eating disorder trigger?

When Holiday Parties Are Your Binge Eating Disorder Trigger

So, parties are your binge eating disorder trigger. Social pressure is often put on people to attend holiday parties and sometimes office parties aren't even optional. What do you do? How do you deal with something so ubiquitous in society and sometimes a requirement for your job? Here are some tips to access your ability to attend a party without being triggered.

1. Self-reflect: How has your recovery been going? Have you been having a lot of bad days or are you coping really well?
2. Evaluate: What is going to be at this party? Will it be people, foods, or events that will trigger you to overeat or binge?
3. Break out your coping skills tool kit: Imagine you're at the party and you're confronted with one of your triggers. What do you do? Can you come up with a solution to keep you from binging or does even thinking about it make you very anxious about your binge eating disorder?
4. Decide whether or not to attend: If the above exercise didn't go well, think about what would happen if you avoided the party all together. Friends and family should be understanding that you're coping with a medical issue and need some space in order to deal with it. If it's a mandatory office party, giving them a note from your doctor or binge eating disorder therapist will often be sufficient to get you out of a situation where you're going to experience a setback.

Parties Are My Binge Eating Disorder Trigger, Can I Ever Enjoy Them Again?

Even if parties are a huge binge eating disorder trigger for you, when you're doing well in your recovery and have enough coping skills, you will be able to handle them without any problem. It's important to keep in mind that just because you can't handle something today doesn't mean you'll never be able to handle it again.

As you work with your doctors and binge eating disorder support system to aid your recovery, you'll be able to do more and more. It's important to be gentle with yourself and know that you have to go slowly in order to make progress and avoid setbacks. It might not sound like any fun to sit at home when there's a fabulous party happening, but your recovery is more important and your loved ones will understand if you need some time.

Things to Remember When Parties Are Your Binge Eating Trigger

When parties trigger your binge eating disorder it can feel like you're missing out or being rude to your friends and family who just want to enjoy their time with you. However, your recovery is more important than a few missed parties. Always remember that you are dealing with a very serious mental illness. It's not going to be easy, it's not going to be fun, but it will be worth it when you learn how to cope with triggers and take control of your life back.

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