But "transitional periods" in person's life (e.g. college, moving, marriage) can certainly trigger the harmful habits, Solomon said.

"Penny," a 26-year-old from Michigan, told Revelist she started noticing symptoms at a difficult point in her life two years ago.

"I was under a lot of stress at the time and dealing with a full school load and work," she said. "I was also dealing with the end of a relationship and the loss of a family member."



She relied on food to self-soothe, and binged two to five times a week.

"I would often order a lot of food and find myself eating all of it even though I was very full or not very hungry," Penny said. "I was always ashamed of what I was eating because I knew it was bad for me."

She said she'd wait until later in the evening to eat at home when her family would go to bed, "so they wouldn't judge me for the food I ate."

