Well done, sounding good.
Just to say a little bit more about the Binge Eating Disorder and what your CDC has said. (I'm not good at using the quotes thingy).
The counselling that you would be likely to be offered on the NHS would be Cognitive Behavioural Therapy. That's because it's quicker (six sessions usually) and they currently see it as most efficient and proven.
This doesn't look at the past and roots of issues, it focuses on how thoughts influence behaviour. Generally therefore, pretty good for eating disorders.
Life coaching; fine- but- eating disorders are complicated. Find one who knows about them...
(Less likely than if you spoke to an actual psychologist who would refer you on to a specialist eating disorders counsellor).
Hypnosis. Again- fine- but...The suggestions you are given in your hypnosis are crucial. What you don't need is a hypnotist telling you, as they would someone who overeats a bit, to eat healthy foods and not eat unhealthy foods. Your binge eating is likely to be triggered by a variety of emotional and physical factors. What you want your subconscious to be telling yo in your hypnosis is to find alternative ways of coping with those factors.
It would be good to think that your GP would have reacted differently if you'd said you were bulimic.
However, I've not experienced good knowledge of, or interest in, my bulimia when I tentatively mentioned it years ago.
I would recommend going back to your GP, because you're the service user- and asking to be referred to an eating disorders psychologist. That is the pathway they're supposed to take for people who come to them with the symptoms of eating disorders. You wouldn't be being demanding, just reasonable.
You seem to have correctly identified a problem. If you had diagnosed yourself as having a broken leg, would you accept anything other than going to someone who knew lots about broken legs and how to treat them?
Below is the criteria that Doctors and psychologists will be using;
DSM-5 Proposed Diagnostic Criteria for Binge Eating Disorder
A. Recurrent episodes of binge eating. An episode of binge eating is characterized by both of the following:
1. eating, in a discrete period of time (for example, within any 2-hour period), an amount of food that is definitely larger than most people would eat in a similar period of time under similar circumstances
2. a sense of lack of control over eating during the episode (for example, a feeling that one cannot stop eating or control what or how much one is eating)
B. The binge-eating episodes are associated with three (or more) of the following:
1. eating much more rapidly than normal
2. eating until feeling uncomfortably full
3. eating large amounts of food when not feeling physically hungry
4. eating alone because of feeling embarrassed by how much one is eating
5. feeling disgusted with oneself, depressed, or very guilty afterwards
C. Marked distress regarding binge eating is present.
D. The binge eating occurs, on average, at least once a week for three months.
E. The binge eating is not associated with the recurrent use of inappropriate compensatory behavior (for example, purging) and does not occur exclusively during the course Anorexia Nervosa, Bulimia Nervosa, or Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder.
