Binge Crazy : A Psychotherapist's Memoir of Food Addiction, Mental Illness, Obesity and Recovery

In Binge Crazy, therapist Natalie Gold reveals her lived experience to show how binge eating disorder and food addiction develops, how it impacts the individual and their loved ones, and the complex road to recovery. From a Toronto mental hospital to a talk show in London, England, she chronicles over 50 years of failure and success. Binge Crazy is really about relationships, especially the author's love-hate affair with food and eating. "There was never enough, could never be enough food to satisfy what was wrong inside," says Gold. The author exposes aspects of her life that also reflect those of her clients and others who struggle.

Binge Crazy is not the standard "how to" book - but it is an example of what not to do. It is a daringly honest portrayal of what it's like to be inside the head and heart of someone who suffers from out-of-control eating, and the zigzag recovery process. Binge Crazy formed the basis for Gold's chapter on severe food addiction for the textbook, Processed Food Addiction, Foundations, Assessment and Recovery (Taylor & Francis), since she met all eleven substance use criteria in the definitive mental health reference, the DSM-5 (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. Fifth Edition, (APA, 2013).

Now a Registered Psychotherapist, Gold is an honors graduate of Ryerson University (Toronto), holds a graduate certificate in Addiction and Mental Health from Durham College (Oshawa), and a post-graduate certificate in Gestalt Therapy from the Gestalt Institute of Toronto. She is a member in good standing of the College of Registered Psychotherapists of Ontario (CRPO), the Ontario Association of Consultants, Counsellors, Psychometrists and Psychotherapists (OACCPP), the Canadian Association for Psychodynamic Therapy (CAPT), and the Association for the Advancement of Gestalt Therapy (AAGT), an international community. She can be reached at changehappens.ca