Psychologist Abraham Maslow famously created the "Hierarchy of Needs" decades ago explaining that our human behavior is driven by the satisfaction of these needs, with basic survival needs as the foundation of our motivations. In this presentation, we look at how this relates to overcoming binge eating. For further resources, tips and a free course about overcoming binge eating, visit http://www.bingeeatingbreakthrough.com.

1. Binge Eating
and
Your Hierarchy of Needs

2. What motivates behavior?
According to humanist
psychologist Abraham Maslow,
our actions are motivated in
order achieve certain needs.

3. Maslow first introduced his
concept of a hierarchy of needs in
his 1943 paper "A Theory of
Human Motivation" and his
subsequent book Motivation and
Personality. This hierarchy
suggests that people are
motivated to fulfill basic needs
before moving on to other, more
advanced needs.

4. This hierarchy is
most often
displayed as a
pyramid. The
lowest levels of the
pyramid are made
up of the most
basic needs, while
the more complex
needs are located
at the top of the
pyramid.

5. Needs at the bottom of the pyramid
are basic physical requirements
including the need for food, water,
sleep, and warmth. Once these
lower-level needs have been met,
people can move on to the next
level of needs, which are for safety
and security.

6. As people progress up the pyramid,
needs become increasingly
psychological and social. Soon, the
need for love, friendship, and intimacy
become important. Further up the
pyramid, the need for personal esteem
and feelings of accomplishment take
priority.

7. Maslow believed that these needs are
similar to instincts and play a major role
in motivating behavior. Physiological,
security, social, and esteem needs
are deficiency needs meaning that
these needs arise due to deprivation.
Satisfying these lower-level needs is
important in order to avoid unpleasant
feelings or consequences.

8. Physiological Needs
These include the most basic needs
that are vital to survival, such as the
need for water, air, food, and sleep.
Maslow believed that these needs are
the most basic and instinctive needs in
the hierarchy because all needs
become secondary until these
physiological needs are met.

9. Security Needs
These include needs for safety and
security. Security needs are important
for survival, but they are not as
demanding as the physiological needs.
Examples of security needs include a
desire for steady employment, health
care, safe neighborhoods, and shelter
from the environment.

10. Social Needs
These include needs for belonging, love,
and affection. Maslow described these
needs as less basic than physiological
and security needs. Relationships such
as friendships, romantic attachments, and
families help fulfill this need for
companionship and acceptance, as does
involvement in social, community, or
religious groups.

11. Esteem Needs
After the first three needs have been
satisfied, esteem needs becomes
increasingly important. These include
the need for things that reflect on
self-esteem, personal worth, social
recognition, and accomplishment.

12. Self-actualizing Needs
This is the highest level of Maslow’s
hierarchy of needs. Self-
actualizing people are self-aware,
concerned with personal growth, less
concerned with the opinions of
others, and interested fulfilling their
potential.

13. Changes to the original five-stage model are highlighted
and include a seven-stage model and a eight-stage model,
both developed during the 1960's and 1970s.
1. Biological and Physiological needs - air, food, drink, shelter, warmth, sex, sleep,
etc.
2. Safety needs - protection from elements, security, order, law, limits, stability, etc.
3. Social Needs - Belongingness and Love, - work group, family, affection,
relationships, etc.
4. Esteem needs - self-esteem, achievement, mastery, independence, status,
dominance, prestige, managerial responsibility, etc.
5. Cognitive needs - knowledge, meaning, etc.
6. Aesthetic needs - appreciation and search for beauty, balance, form, etc.
7. Self-Actualization needs - realizing personal potential, self-fulfillment, seeking
personal growth and peak experiences.
8. Transcendence needs - helping other people achieve self-actualization.

14. Every person is capable and has the
desire to move up the hierarchy toward a
level of self-actualization. Unfortunately,
progress is often disrupted by failure to
meet lower level needs. Life experiences
including divorce and loss of job may
cause an individual to fluctuate between
levels of the hierarchy.

15. How does this relate to
overcoming regular
overeating or binge eating?

16. If you are trying to transform your
behavior and relationship with food but
some of your basic needs are not being
met, your subconscious drives will
continue to motivate you towards
something that gives you pleasure,
relief or security...like food.

17. For example, if I have my basic
biological and safety needs met but
don't feel loved by my family or a
partner, or I feel alone or like I don't
belong, it's easy to use food to find
comfort and pleasure.

18. Or, another example, if I have
biological, safety, social and self
esteem needs met but feel bored or
like I'm not mentally challenged in
my life, food can be a way to feel
like there's something to look
forward to.

19. Often it's hard to see what needs you
might be missing because you're trying
to look at your life while being in your
life. However, with self-reflection,
practicing mindfulness or coaching with
a mentor, you can find and work on
those areas.

20. For further resources, tips, a free
course and programs to overcome
binge eating, visit
www.bingeeatingbreakthrough.com