Jeniffer Mathews: Emily Wollman has been dieting most of her life, but avoiding food often did more harm than good.

Emily Wollman: I would go and get anything that I had been deprived of.

Jeniffer Mathews: Emily would eat up to three pints of ice cream and a half box of cookies during a binge. She says it deflected issues she didn't want to deal with.

Emily Wollman: Food becomes like the Band-Aid you put on your emotional wounds.

Jeniffer Mathews: Psychiatrist Nathan Shapira says binge-eating is a common outlet for emotions. Now, he's trying to stop the binging with the anticonvulsant drug topiramate or topamax.

Nathan Shapira: One of the mechanisms of this compound may have a direct effect on, say, the satiety center or the appetite disregulation.

Jeniffer Mathews: Earlier studies in epilepsy patients show the drug lessened appetites.

Nathan Shapira: About 80% of them had completely stopped binge-eating on topiramate, versus about a quarter on placebo. People would typically go from binge-eating five times a week, down to one or less a week.

Jeniffer Mathews: For some, that was a surprise.

Nathan Shapira: They described that they used to be able to eat a Big Mac and fries, and now all they could eat was a Happy Meal, and it was very disturbing to them.

Jeniffer Mathews: For Emily, coming to peace with herself and her body helped defeat her binging.

Emily Wollman: I've gotten to the point where I can even -- when I'm really connected to myself like, cook a bowl full of spaghetti and, to the strand, know how much to put on the plate.

Jeniffer Mathews: But, for those who need an extra push, help is on the way. This is Jeniffer Mathews reporting.