The Emotional Aspect of Eating Disorders
Many strategies for treating eating disorders center on therapy to focus on the negative emotions that are beneath the surface of the disordered eating behaviors. Therapy is often successful in teaching individuals with eating disorders to recognize the feelings that trigger the behaviors associated with their diagnosis.
A new research study examines whether there are patterns of emotions and feelings that predict an individual developing an eating disorder. The study was conducted at the University of the Basque Country by PhD student Aitziber Pascual Jimeno.
The research team recruited 433 women to participate the study, of which 143 suffered from an eating disorder and 145 were considered at risk of developing an eating disorder. The study focused on two objectives. First, the researchers wanted to determine whether certain emotional variables play a role in the development of eating disorders. Second, they wanted to establish emotional profiles for predicting the development of eating disorders.
The study hypothesized that certain emotional variables would be associated with eating disorders. They examined the frequency of positive and negative emotions, anxiety, low self-esteem and how diet, weight, and body shape impacted emotions. The researchers also looked at negative expression of emotions and the inability to identify emotions and express them through words (this is known as alexithymia) and the methods used to control negative emotions.
In addition to looking at the emotional aspects of factors that might predict eating disorders, the researchers also looked at another variable: the need for control. While the need for control is not strictly emotional, it has an emotional aspect because people who have a severe need for control experience a high level of anxiety when confronted with a situation where control is threatened.
The results of the study indicate that some emotional profiles may be identified as predictive of the development of an eating disorder. Several emotional factors presented themselves as indicative of a higher risk of disordered eating behaviors. When the emotional state of a person is excessively influenced by diet, weight and body shape, and when self-esteem is low and when a person acts impulsively in response to a repressed emotion.
The findings of the study provide important information for detecting risk of eating disorders before they develop. It may be possible to examine the emotional profiles of persons suspected to be at risk for eating disorders and target them for intervention before disordered eating behaviors progress to dangerous levels.
