The positive thing about this dynamic, is because, in a way, it's self-care.
By inflicting pain on ourselves, we trigger endorphins, the body's feel-good pain killer. So it makes sense in the same way that people cut themselves - it looks weird to others but it makes the person feel better because right after the cutting, or the bingeing, comes the "ahhh." And that part is physical and biochemical. Well Oops, sadly, also destructive of course.

Why would we inflict more pain after a painful event?
Wouldn't the painful event trigger endorphins just by itself?
Maybe not, because over time, and from eating drug-like food, the threshold gets higher.
So you might have a medium painful life event but you need a little more pain oomph before you get the "ahh."

I got out from under all this with lower carb and by stopping drug-like foods (grains, sweets). this helps crank down the endorphin threshold and it can all normalize again. Other neurotransmitters too like serotonin and dopamine.