People suffering with Compulsive Overeating have what is described as an "addiction" to food.  Large quantities of high calorie foods can for a time, allow a sufferer to hide from their emotions, fill a void within them, or to cope with daily stresses and problems.

People suffering with this Eating Disorder tend to be overweight. Obese or not, those who binge eat, are often conscious of their inappropriate eating patterns, feel ashamed and try to hide these behaviours. Interestingly, even those who are unaware of their eating problem still feel ashamed.  However, all become efficient at hiding it, so that even close friends and family members are unaware that they binge eat.

Unthinking comments such as, "just go on a diet" are as emotionally devastating to a person suffering Compulsive Overeating as "just eat" can be to a person suffering Anorexia.

Not only does food become an anaesthetic, but some Compulsive Overeaters will ‘hide’ behind their overweight, using it as defence against society (common in survivors of sexual abuse).

In a combined interlocking of defences, they feel shame for being overweight, guilty for not being good enough resulting in very low self-esteem. They then find themselves in a cycle of using food to cope with these feelings, making them feel even worse and trying to find a way to cope again, usually by eating.

Thus alienated, suffering low self esteem, deprived of love and validation, he/she will turn to obsessive episodes of food as a way to forget the pain and the desire for affection.