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Emotional awareness and emotional eating
Abstract
Two studies examined the relation between emotional awareness (attention to and clarity of emotions) and eating behaviours. In Study 1, college women (n=198) completed measures of emotional awareness, emotional eating, and neuroticism. When all predictors were considered simultaneously, low attention to emotion was the only significant predictor of emotional eating. In Study 2, to test whether low attention to emotion would lead to increased eating in a laboratory setting, social anxiety was induced, and attention to emotion was manipulated experimentally in a sample of college women (n=100). Women who reported low levels of trait attention to emotion who were also in the low attention to emotion condition had the greatest caloric consumption.
... Emotional awareness can be defined as the extent to which one can identify and describe one's own emotions (Moon and Berenbaum 2009). It represents the ability to consciously perceive and be aware of emotional states as well as the capability to match emotional experiences with appropriate semantic categories. ...
... Dysregulated behaviors have been defined as those that are difficult to control and often result in functional impairment in the affected individual (Selby and Joiner 2009). Another output of this cascade is the use of emotional eating/overeating in response to dysregulated emotional states (Moon and Berenbaum 2009). ...
... These results are significantly different from the previous findings that link emotional eating with poor emotional and interoceptive awareness (van Strien et al. 2005). It would again refer to the notion about a limited repertoire of emotion regulation strategies and rigid cascade from emotional to behavioral dysregulation (van Strien et al. 2005;Selby et al. 2008;Moon and Berenbaum 2009). Another possible explanation of the unexpected results is that all prior studies used self-report (Ciarrochi et al. 2003), more work is needed to fully explore its potential in the eating disorder research area. ...
Recent findings converge to the idea that the central function of eating disorders (ED) can be understood as an attempt to control unwanted or dysregulated emotions. The restriction of food intake can be seen as the predominant and general dysregulated behavior with the aim to reduce emotional experience in women with ED. The aim of the present study was to test the hypothesis that emotional and interoceptive awareness as indexed by the Level of Emotional Awareness Scale (LEAS) and Body Perception Questionnaire (BPQ) will be in negative correlation with food restriction (Restriction Scale) and emotional eating (General Food Craving Questionnaire Trait). Our study was performed on women with ED (N = 73) and healthy controls (N = 207). The findings revealed that, in comparison with the controls, girls from the ED group were less able to discriminate their emotional states and were less aware of their body processes and autonomic nervous system reactivity. Contrary to our hypothesis, a three-stage hierarchical multiple regression analysis showed a significant effect of interoceptive sensitivity and emotional awareness on the restriction. Emotional and interoceptive awareness in women with ED explains the 25.2% variance of restriction in comparison with 8.8% in controls. It seems that the predominant use of restriction in the ED group could be explained by a limited repertoire of emotion regulation strategies or the persistent use of one emotion regulation strategy, such as restriction, while the controls had more options how to regulate their affect. Further studies are needed to explore the relations between these variables and the underlying causal mechanisms.
... Emotional awareness can be defined as the extent to which one can identify and describe one's own emotions (Moon and Berenbaum 2009). It represents the ability to consciously perceive and be aware of emotional states as well as the capability to match emotional experiences with appropriate semantic categories. ...
... Dysregulated behaviors have been defined as those that are difficult to control and often result in functional impairment in the affected individual (Selby and Joiner 2009). Another output of this cascade is the use of emotional eating/overeating in response to dysregulated emotional states (Moon and Berenbaum 2009). ...
... These results are significantly different from the previous findings that link emotional eating with poor emotional and interoceptive awareness (van Strien et al. 2005). It would again refer to the notion about a limited repertoire of emotion regulation strategies and rigid cascade from emotional to behavioral dysregulation (van Strien et al. 2005;Selby et al. 2008;Moon and Berenbaum 2009). Another possible explanation of the unexpected results is that all prior studies used self-report questionnaires, unlike the LEAS which is a performancebased instrument. ...
Emotion regulation is complex ability involving many emotional processes. One of the main assumptions of adaptive emotion regulation is emotional awareness, or the ability to identify and interpret own emotions. The absence of these fractional skills at patients with eating disorders can lead to rigid maladaptive control strategies that are underlying etiological factor of eating disorders. Sixteen patients underwent a psychological diagnostic focused on work with emotions. In the experimental part, patients were exposed to their own image through the mirror, during which were supposed to regulate their emotions, according to specific instructions. While patients were looking into the mirror, we monitored psychophysiological activity. Latest results based on the data processing of averages excitation of skin conductance describe the course of the experiment as we expected. Calming phases alternated with mirror exposure were clearly noticeable and consistent during changes in skin conductance and varies almost significantly [F(3,6) = 2.5, P = 0.068, η2 = 0.22], which supports the suitability of the selected eliciting material. The difference between mirror exposures with instructions on how to regulate emotions and without them is not statistically significant, but the continuance of the skin conductance describes the phases of the experiment consistently. The most striking response was detected at the first exposure to the mirror, which may suggest a lack of internal resources to regulate such an important stimulus as their own body. The results indicate that exposure to mirror is a negative emotional stimulus, with whom the patient can hardly cope.
Disclosure of interest
The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.
... In fact, emotional eating is related to emotional processing disturbances such as higher levels of alexithymia (van Strien, 2006), decreased emotional clarity (Larsen, van Strien, Eisinga, & Engels, 2006), lower attention to emotion (Moon & Berenbaum, 2009) and poor interoceptive awareness (Ouwens, van Strien, van Leeuwe, & van der Staak, 2009;van Strien, 2006) in the general population. ...
... This finding was unexpected based on the previous literature of clinical samples. Despite the fact that the percentages of explained variance were small in our study, they were significantly different from previous findings that link emotional eating with poor interoceptive awareness (Ouwens et al., 2009;van Strien, 2006;van Strien et al., 2005), increased alexithymia symptoms (van Strien, 2006), reduced emotional clarity (Larsen et al., 2006) and a lower attention to emotions (Moon & Berenbaum, 2009). As previously mentioned, all prior studies were conducted using self-report questionnaires, whereas we used a performance-based instrument. ...
... Theoretical models posit that emotional eating is caused by a lack of adaptive emotion regulation skills needed to manage emotional discomfort (Wiser & Telch, 1999). Laboratory-based, experimental studies have demonstrated positive relationships between maladaptive aspects of emotion regulation (i.e., emotional suppression; Evers, Marijn Stok, & de Ridder, 2010) and poor emotional awareness (Moon & Berenbaum, 2009) and food intake. This association has also been demonstrated in crosssectional studies of adults with overweight and obesity. ...
Emotions that differ in valence are uniquely associated with eating. In our previous study with an online sample of adults with overweight/obesity, eating in response to depression was the type of emotional eating most closely associated with negative psychosocial correlates (Braden et al., 2018). The current study extended this research by examining associations between emotional eating types (eating in response to depression, anxiety, boredom, happiness) and psychological correlates among treatment-seeking adults. The present study was a secondary analysis of adults (N = 63; 96.8% female) with overweight/obesity and self-identified emotional eating who completed a baseline assessment for a behavioral weight loss intervention. Emotional eating in response to depression (EE-depression), anxiety/anger (EE-anxiety/anger), and boredom (EE-boredom) were assessed with the revised Emotional Eating Scale (EES-R), and positive emotional eating (EE-positive) was assessed with the positive emotions subscale of the Emotional Appetite Questionnaire (EMAQ). The Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire (EDE-Q), Binge Eating Scale (BES), Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS), and Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9; depressive symptoms) were also administered. Frequencies showed the most endorsed emotional eating type was EE-depression (44.4%; n = 28). Four multiple regression analyses examined associations between emotional eating (EE-depression, EE-anxiety/anger, EE-boredom, and EE-positive) and dependent variables (EDE-Q, BES, DERS, and PHQ-9). Results showed that depression was the emotional eating type most closely related to disordered eating, binge eating, and depressive symptoms. Eating in response to anxiety was closely related to emotion regulation difficulties. Positive emotional eating was related to less depressive symptoms. Exploratory analyses showed that lower levels of positive emotional eating were related to higher depressive symptoms among adults with greater emotion regulation difficulties. Researchers and clinicians may consider tailoring weight loss treatment based on unique emotions that trigger eating.
... 254) in women with EDs and investigated extensively ever since, is diminished awareness of one's emotional states and the corresponding interoceptive component. Emotional awareness can be defined as the extent to which one can identify and describe one's own emotions (Moon and Berenbaum, 2009). It represents the ability to consciously perceive and be aware of emotional states as well as the capability to match emotional experiences with appropriate semantic categories. ...
Objective: Body image disturbances and the attendant negative emotions are two of the major clinical symptoms of eating disorders. The objective of the present experimental study was to shed more light on the degree of association or dissociation between the physiological and emotional response to mirror exposure in patients with restrictive mental anorexia, and on the relationships between the physiological response and characteristics connected with emotional processing.
Materials and Methods: Thirty adolescent girls with the restrictive type of anorexia and thirty matched healthy controls underwent bilateral measurement of skin conductance (SC) during rest, neutral stimulus exposure, and mirror exposure, and completed a set of measures focused on emotion regulation competencies, affectivity, and eating disorder pathology.
Results: Compared to healthy controls, girls with restrictive anorexia rated mirror exposure as a subjectively more distressful experience. Differences in skin conductance response (SCR) were not significant; however, variance in SCR was substantially greater in the group of anorexia patients as compared to healthy controls. The overall skin conductance level (SCL) was lower in anorexia patients. Increase in SCR during mirror exposure, as opposed to exposure to neutral stimuli, was positively related to the tendency to experience negative emotions, interoceptive sensitivity, body dissatisfaction and suppression, but not to other symptoms of eating pathology or emotional awareness. A post hoc analysis suggested that physiological reactivity might be associated with interoceptive sensitivity to mirror exposure especially in anorectic patients.
Conclusion: The study seems to demonstrate some degree of dissociation between psychophysiological reactivity and subjective response to body exposure in patients with restrictive anorexia. Factors affecting differences in psychophysiological responsiveness to body exposure in anorectic patients require further exploration.
... This contradicts the hypothesis put forth by MAT which posits that endorsing observing alone increases affective reactivity and therefore may increase stress-related health outcomes (Lindsay & Creswell, 2017), one of which could be emotional eating. Despite this prediction, Moon and Berenbaum (2009) have also reported a negative association between emotional awareness and emotional eating using a cross-sectional design as well as an experimental design that measured food intake in the face of induced distress. These findings, which are in opposition to MAT may reflect previous concerns about the observing facet, as it has also generally had little predictive value in community samples (Baer et al., 2006;Cash & Whittingham, 2010). ...
Emotional eating is defined as the tendency to increase food consumption in order to modify negative emotional states. Theories on emotional eating attribute its cause to inadequate emotion regulation, specifically an inability to draw awareness to and accept distress. Mindfulness, or the ability to pay attention to and accept internal and external experiences, is posited to attenuate the association between internalizing distress and emotional eating. Nevertheless, there has been little research examining the moderating role of mindfulness in the relationship between psychological distress and emotional eating. The present study used a cross-sectional design to probe the effects of specific facets of mindfulness, as measured by the Five Factor Mindfulness Questionnaire, on the relationship between internalizing distress (i.e., depression and anxiety) and emotional eating in a diverse community sample (N = 248). Results showed that depression significantly interacted with nonjudging of inner experience to predict emotional eating. Those who were high in nonjudging endorsed less emotional eating than those who were average or low in nonjudging. This was significant only at low levels of depression. These findings delineate the moderating role of specific aspects of trait mindfulness in the association between depression and emotional eating and may inform more targeted intervention and prevention efforts.
... Whiteside et al. (2007) found that emotion regulation difficulties accounted for unique variance in binge eating beyond the variance accounted for by gender, food restriction, and over-evaluation of shape and weight among undergraduates. Emotional eating is related to emotional processing disturbances such as higher levels of alexithymia (van Strien 2006), decreased emotional clarity (Larsen et al. 2006), lower attention to emotion (Moon and Berenbaum 2009), and low interoceptive awareness (Ouwens et al. 2009;van Strien 2006). It includes problems recognizing internal signals of hunger, satiety, and fundamental emotional states rendering individuals with limited or no access to emotion-specific coping skills (Sim and Zeman 2006). ...
Despite theoretical support for the conceptualization of emotion dysregulation as a pathway linking peer victimization to psychopathology, there is a dearth of empirical support for this association. Hence, the present study aims to investigate if emotion dysregulation acts as a mechanism linking peer victimization to social anxiety and comorbid disordered eating symptoms and behavior. Data was collected from 411 undergraduates from a technical institute in India, using self-report instruments. Mediation analyses showed that online victimization exerted its influence on social anxiety and disordered eating through a lack of emotional awareness. These findings may have important clinical implications for preventive interventions that seek to reduce the prevalence of psychopathology among youth confronting peer-related stressors.
... They noted many of the participants struggled with emotional eating, and reported that discrepancy between goal and state increased likelihood of the "what the hell" effect [20]. Research indicates that increased attention to emotional state is associated with a decreased emotional eating response [21]. Therefore, Question 2 showed a 7-point Likert scale depicting seven faces from extreme negative to extreme positive emotion, with the text: "Based on the images below, how are you feeling about your adherence to your eating plan? ...
Background:
Ensuring treatment adherence is important for the internal validity of clinical trials. In intervention studies where touch points decrease over time, there is even more of an adherence challenge. Trials with multiple cohorts offer an opportunity to innovate on ways to increase treatment adherence without compromising the integrity of the study design, and previous cohorts can serve as historical controls. Electronically delivered nudges offer low-cost opportunities to increase treatment adherence.
Objective:
This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of electronic messages (e-messages) on treatment adherence to the last cohort of a parent weight loss intervention during the second half of a year-long trial, when intervention checkpoint frequency decreases. Treatment adherence is measured by intervention class attendance and adherence to the intervention diet.
Methods:
All participants in the last cohort (cohort 5, n=128) of a large randomized weight loss study were offered an e-message intervention to improve participant adherence during the last 6 months of a 1-year weight loss program. Overall, 3 to 4 electronic weekly messages asked participants about intervention diet adherence. A propensity score model was estimated using 97 participants who opted to receive e-messages and 31 who declined in cohort 5 and used to pair match cohort 5 e-message participants to a historical control group from cohorts 1 to 4. Moreover, 88 participants had complete data, yielding 176 participants in the final analyses. After matching, intervention and matched control groups were compared on (1) proportion of class attendance between the 6 and 12 month study endpoints, (2) diet adherence, as measured by total carbohydrate grams for low-carbohydrate (LC) and total fat grams for low-fat (LF) diets at 12 months, and (3) weight change from 6 to 12 months. The dose-response relationship between the proportion of text messages responded to and the 3 outcomes was also investigated.
Results:
Compared with matched controls, receiving e-messages had no effect on (1) treatment adherence; class attendance after 6 months +4.6% (95% CI -4.43 to 13.68, P=.31), (2) adherence; LC -2.5 g carbohydrate, 95% CI -29.9 to 24.8, P=.85; LF +6.2 g fat, 95% CI -4.1 to 17.0, P=.26); or on (3) the secondary outcome of weight change in the last 6 months; +0.3 kg (95% CI -1.0 to 1.5, P=.68). There was a positive significant response correlation between the percentage of messages to which participants responded and class attendance (r=.45, P<.001).
Conclusions:
Although this e-message intervention did not improve treatment adherence, future studies can learn from this pilot and may incorporate more variety in the prompts and more interaction to promote more effective user engagement. Uniquely, this study demonstrated the potential for innovating within a multicohort trial using propensity score-matched historical control subjects.
Trial registration:
ClinicalTrials.gov NCT01826591; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT01826591.
International registered report identifier (irrid):
RR2-10.1016/j.cct.2016.12.021.
... and although initially created within a clinical population, it has been used extensively in general population samples (e.g. Moon & Berenbaum, 2009;Price, Higgs, & Lee, 2015). The EES was favoured over alternative measures of emotional eating (i.e. ...
Difficulty identifying and describing emotions (alexithymia) has been related to impulsiveness and negative affect, emotional eating and obesity. However, previous research findings concerning the relationship between alexithymia and obesity have been mixed and inconsistent, raising the possibility that the relationship is indirect and mediated by multiple unknown factors. The aim of the study was to comprehensively explore the potential pathways between alexithymia and obesity via a novel theoretical model, and for the first time, incorporate negative affect, impulsiveness (negative urgency) and emotional eating as potential mediating factors. Two questionnaire-based studies were conducted; the first as an exploratory analysis within a student sample (N = 125), and the second as a self-replication within a more representative general population sample (N = 342). Study One revealed that difficulty identifying feelings predicted Body Mass Index (BMI) both directly (B = 0.1694, CI = 0.0194-0.3194) and indirectly via negative urgency and emotional eating (B = 0.0074, CI = 0.0001-0.0315). In contrast, Study Two revealed that alexithymia predicted BMI indirectly via negative affect (when depression was included in the model; B = 0.0335, CI = 0.0019-0.0660) or negative urgency (when anxiety was included in the model; B = 0.0021, CI = 0.0001-0.0066). Our findings provide partial support for the hypothesised model and offer original insight into the relationship between alexithymia and obesity. Additionally, our findings highlight important methodological considerations for future research and suggest that ways to address an individual's ability to identify, describe and regulate emotions should be considered when designing interventions to assist weight loss and management.
... Finally, the mediating role of acting with awareness in the depressive symptoms-emotional eating link may also be explained through difficulty identifying feelings, a subcomponent of alexithymia (Ciarrochi et al. 2011). Difficulty identifying feelings has been negatively linked to acting with awareness (Baer et al. 2006;Ciarrochi et al. 2011;Dekeyser et al. 2008) and positively linked to emotional eating (Carano et al. 2006;Hund and Espelage 2006;Larsen et al. 2006;Mazzeo and Espelage 2002;Moon and Berenbaum 2009;Pinaquy et al. 2003) and depressive symptoms (Ouwens et al. 2009). Similar to acting with awareness, difficulty identifying feelings has also been suggested to be a mediator of the association between depressive symptoms and emotional eating (Ouwens et al. 2009). ...
The association between depressive symptoms and emotional eating has been well established. The aim of the current study was to examine whether the association between depressive symptoms and emotional eating was mediated by mindfulness, a construct that has successfully been implemented in the treatment of eating disorders and depression. Mindfulness, particularly, the component “acting with awareness” was theorized to decrease impulsive eating. Data from 417 Dutch adult participants were analyzed. Mediation analyses were conducted using structural equation modeling in Mplus. Of the five mindfulness subcomponents, only acting with awareness mediated the association between depressive symptoms and emotional eating. Results showed complete mediation in that the effect of depression on emotional eating was entirely carried indirectly through the mediator acting with awareness. None of the other mindfulness components mediated the depressive symptoms-emotional eating link. This indicates the potential importance of the “acting with awareness” construct, explaining why depressive symptoms would be associated with emotional eating. Future prospective research should examine whether, why and for whom acting with awareness may mediate the prospective link from depressive symptoms to emotional eating.
... Increased stress has been associated with highfat food consumption, decreased fruit and vegetable intake and decreased breakfast consumption (4). It can be supported that low levels of control of emotions may be related to high levels of emotional eating that can lead to obesity (104). ...
Background/Aim: The aim of the present study was to examine the relation between understanding of emotions and cardiovascular related diseases, namely coronary heart disease, diabetes mellitus and obesity. The uniqueness of this study lies in the fact that it examined the relationship between the cardiovascular related diseases named above and the understanding of emotions in the context of Emotional
Intelligence (EI). Patients and Methods: The study was conducted in 300 participants during a 3 year period. All participants completed a self-report questionnaire, assessing various aspects of EI, such as self-emotion appraisal, other emotion appraisal, emotion regulation and use of emotions. As hypothesized, coronary heart disease is a prognostic factor of regulation of emotions. Results: The present study is an attempt to examine the relation between emotional understanding and cardiovascular related diseases, namely coronary heart disease, diabetes mellitus and obesity. Establishing which diseases are independent risk factors for the understanding of emotions, could have a significant impact on emotional health, through the treatment of these cardiovascular related diseases. Emotions were studied within the theoretical context of Emotional
Intelligence (EI), which affects people’s physical and mental health. Conclusion: The results of this study emphasize on the relationship of cardiovascular related diseases and psychological characteristics, such as anxiety and anger, being aspects of EI. Additionally, this work fills a gap in the relevant Greek literature, as a first attempt to examine the correlation of EI with cardiovascular related diseases.
... In the taste test, participants were provided with 20 pretzels, 12 mini cookies, and 50 raisins, which were counted prior to being offered; food items that were noticeably larger or smaller than others were not used. These foods were selected in order to provide both savory and sweet options, which are commonly used in emotional eating studies (Evers, de Ridder, & Adriaanse, 2009;Evers, Marijn Stok, & de Ridder, 2010;Moon & Berenbaum, 2009). Participants could choose whether to eat one, two, or all three of the foods and were asked to complete a survey assessing aspects about each food sampled. ...
Emotion differentiation is the ability to identify and label emotional experiences into discrete categories. The present study examined the influence of emotion regulation difficulties, emotion differentiation, and emotional state-specifically sad versus positive mood-on caloric intake in a laboratory setting. Undergraduate participants completed a series of questionnaires, including measures of emotion regulation difficulties and emotion differentiation, and then underwent a randomly assigned sad or positive mood induction. Afterwards, they participated in a taste test. Food was counted before and after the taste test to determine total caloric intake. Results showed that negative emotion differentiation was significantly inversely associated with overall caloric intake, such that low negative emotion differentiators ate more regardless of mood induction group. Positive emotion differentiation was not associated with caloric intake. Additional analysis found that negative emotion differentiation mediated the relation between emotion regulation difficulties and caloric intake. An alternative model found that emotion regulation difficulties did not mediate the relation between negative emotion differentiation and caloric intake. Our results suggest that reducing caloric intake among individuals with emotion regulation difficulties may involve incorporating strategies to specifically target the ability to differentiate between emotions.
... subsequent improvement in co-morbid health conditions [3]. However, research among individuals with "supersuper obesity," the classification used for a body mass index (BMI) of 60 kg/m 2 or greater (BMI ≥60) [4], has demonstrated that these patients tend not to lose as much weight after surgery [5][6][7][8]. These past studies have reported that greater degrees of emotional eating, persistent medical co-morbidities, and greater complication rates may account for the variability in weight loss outcomes among those who evidenced BMI ≥60 before surgery. ...
... subsequent improvement in co-morbid health conditions [3]. However, research among individuals with "supersuper obesity," the classification used for a body mass index (BMI) of 60 kg/m 2 or greater (BMI ≥60) [4], has demonstrated that these patients tend not to lose as much weight after surgery [5][6][7][8]. These past studies have reported that greater degrees of emotional eating, persistent medical co-morbidities, and greater complication rates may account for the variability in weight loss outcomes among those who evidenced BMI ≥60 before surgery. ...
Background:
The current investigation aims to predict 3-year postoperative percent total weight loss among a sample of bariatric surgery patients with super-super obesity.
Objective:
Previous research implies that persons with presurgical super-super obesity (body mass index [BMI] ≥60 kg/m(2)) tend to have poorer loss outcomes compared with those with a lower presurgical BMI after bariatric surgery.
Setting:
Cleveland Clinic, Bariatric & Metabolic Institute, Cleveland, OH.
Methods:
Bariatric surgery candidates (N = 1231; 71.9% female; 65.8% Caucasian) completed a presurgical psychological evaluation and the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2-Restructured Form. Participants with a baseline BMI ≥60 (n = 164) were compared with BMI<60 (n = 1067) on psychosocial and demographic factors, the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2-Restructured Form, and in the subset that had surgery (n = 870), percent total weight loss extending to the 3-year follow-up.
Results:
Patients with a BMI ≥60 were younger, less educated, and more likely to be male compared with lower BMI patients. Patients with a BMI ≥60 had greater psychosocial sequelae as evidenced by being more likely to have a history of sexual abuse, history of psychiatric hospitalization, more binge eating episodes, and higher prevalence of major depression disorder and binge eating disorder. On the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2-Restructured Form, those with BMI ≥60 reported greater demoralization, low positive emotions, ideas of persecution, and dysfunctional negative emotions. After controlling for surgery type, weight loss for individuals with BMI ≥60 did not greatly differ from weight loss in patients with BMI<60. Variables predictive of less weight loss at 3 years regardless of presurgical BMI, included being older, having a sexual abuse history, and higher ideas of persecution scores.
Conclusion:
Although patients with BMI ≥60 evidenced more psychopathology before surgery, findings suggest that the relationship between higher BMI and poorer outcome may better be explained by other co-morbid factors.
... and although initially created within a clinical population, it has been used extensively in general population samples (e.g. Moon & Berenbaum, 2009;Price, Higgs, & Lee, 2015). The EES was favoured over alternative measures of emotional eating (i.e. ...
... Increased stress has been associated with high-fat food consumption, decreased fruit and vegetable intake and decreased breakfast consumption (Cartwright et al., 2003). It can be supported that low levels of control of emotions may be related to high levels of emotional eating that can lead to obesity (Moon, Berenbaum, 2009). ...
The aim of the present study is to examine the relation between understanding of emotions and cardiovascular related diseases, namely coronary heart disease, diabetes mellitus and obesity. Coronary heart disease is a type of cardiovascular disease that usually coexists with other diseases, such as diabetes mellitus and obesity. The uniqueness of this study lies in the fact that examined the relationship between the cardiovascular related diseases named above and the understanding of emotions in the context of Emotional Intelligence (EI). The latter consists of a wide range of psychological factors that reflect many aspects of human thought and behavior, providing a very comprehensive picture of each person. The experimental design through the observed variables were approached, has not been applied in previous studies internationally. The study was conducted in 300 participants during a 3 year period. All participants completed a self-report questionnaire, assessing various aspects of EI, such as self-emotion appraisal, other emotion appraisal, emotion regulation and use of emotions. As hypothesized, coronary heart disease is a prognostic factor of regulation of emotions. The results of this study extend and reinforce the findings of previous studies, which emphasize on the relationship of cardiovascular related diseases and psychological characteristics, such as anxiety and anger, being aspects of EI. Additionally, this work fills a gap in the relevant Greek literature, as a first attempt to examine the correlation of EI with cardiovascular related diseases. New approaches are needed to improve primary prevention, early detection and clinical management of those diseases. Furthermore, this study focused on the need to cultivate and improve EI of patients, in order to eliminate the effects of the diseases.
... These findings confirm theories that emotional eaters eat more sweet, high-fat foods in response to stressful situations to regulate their emotions, which could also predispose them to becoming obese (Macht, 2008). Moon and Berenbaum (2009) conducted two studies to investigate whether emotional awareness was associated with emotional eating. Emotional awareness was described by these authors as the extent to which one attends to and values one"s emotions as well as the extent to which one can identify and describe one"s own emotions. ...
... Impairments in present moment awareness and in describing one's internal experiences could also reduce opportunities to accurately identify negative internal states and use more effective emotion regulation strategies rather than problematic eating. Consistent with this, research has found that obese individuals have greater difficulty identifying and differentiating emotions (Rommel et al., 2012), that these difficulties in identifying emotions are related to more emotional eating and other problematic eating patterns (e.g., Larsen, van Strien, Eisinga, & Engels, 2006;Moon & Berenbaum, 2009;Rommel et al., 2012;Van Strien, Engels, Leeuwe, & Snoek, 2005), and difficulty identifying emotions mediates the relationship of negative affect to problematic eating (e.g., Ouwens, van Strien, & van Leeuwe, 2009). Being reactive to and judgmental of one's internal experiences may further contribute to engaging in emotional and binge eating as avoidant coping strategies. ...
... That is, there is evidence to suggest that these bulimic behaviors may serve to help an individual manage his/her negative affect or escape from aversive self-awareness (Heatherton & Baumeister, 1991). This conceptualization has been put forth both in theoretical and narrative accounts of BN and has been tested empirically using various research methods, including experiments, ecological momentary assessment/experience sampling techniques, and retrospective reports (e.g., Engelberg, Steiger, Gauvin, & Wonderlich, 2007;Fox & Froom, 2009;Moon & Berenbaum, 2009;Telch, 1997). While some work has considered the potential affect regulation function of another compensatory behavior, hard exercise, this area of research is much less developed. ...
The current study explores the personality traits of compulsivity (e.g., sense of orderliness and duty to perform tasks completely) and restricted expression (e.g., emotion expression difficulties) as potential moderators of the relation between affect lability and frequency of hard exercise episodes in a sample of individuals with bulimic pathology. Participants were 204 adult females recruited in five Midwestern cities who met criteria for threshold or subthreshold bulimia nervosa (BN). Compulsivity was found to significantly moderate the relation between affect lability and number of hard exercise episodes over the past 28days, such that among those with high compulsivity, level of affect lability was associated with the number of hard exercise episodes; whereas, among those with low compulsivity, affect lability was not associated with the number of hard exercise episodes. The same pattern of findings emerged for restricted expression; however, this finding approached, but did not reach statistical significance. As such, it appears that affect lability is differentially related to hard exercise among individuals with BN depending upon the level of compulsivity and, to a more limited extent, restricted expression. These results suggest that, for individuals with BN with either compulsivity or restricted expression, focusing treatment on increasing flexibility and/or verbal expression of emotions may help in the context of intense, fluctuating affect.
... Trait emotional intelligence, of which attention to one's own emotions is a facet, is associated with numerous aspects of psychological functioning, including socioemotional competence, life satisfaction, and mental health (Davis & Humphrey, 2012;Fredrickson, Petrides, & Simmonds, 2012;Kong & Zhao, 2013). Past research that has focused specifically on the degree to which people attend to their own emotions has found that it is also associated with a wide variety of phenomena, such as affect intensity (Thompson, Dizen, & Berenbaum, 2009), mindfulness (Goodall, Trejnowska, & Darling, 2012), magical ideation (Berenbaum, Boden, & Baker, 2009) and emotional eating (Moon & Berenbaum, 2009). Thus, it is important to understand the reasons why people may attend to their own emotions. ...
This study explored whether voluntary attention to emotion is distinguishable from involuntary attention to emotion. University students (N = 166) completed self-report questionnaires, designed for this study, intended to measure voluntary and involuntary attention to one’s own emotions. Moreover, participants completed questionnaires measuring other emotional constructs and distress. Finally, participants completed a dot probe task intended to obtain a behavioral measure of voluntary attention to emotion. Affect intensity was positively correlated with both voluntary and involuntary attention to emotion. As expected, dot probe emotional bias scores were associated with self-reported voluntary attention to emotion, but not with involuntary attention to emotion. Voluntary and involuntary attention to emotion were also differentially associated with clarity of emotion, anhedonic depression, and worry. The results of this study suggest it is important to distinguish between voluntary and involuntary attention to one’s own emotions.
... If monitoring is a precursor to successful regulation, then paying attention to emotional experiences should increase our success at enacting emotion regulation goals. In support of this idea, Moon and Berenbaum (2009) found that diminished attention to emotions was associated with binge eating (conceptualised as a disorder of emotion regulation), and that a manipulation designed to draw attention towards emotions (completing a mood checklist) decreased binge eating. These findings suggest that attending to emotions can facilitate successful goal enactment. ...
The present review adopts an action control perspective on emotion regulation, contextualising the gap between emotion control goals (e.g., I want to remain calm) and emotional outcomes (e.g., anger, anxiety, and aggression) in terms of the broader literature on goal pursuit. We propose that failure to effectively
regulate emotions can result from difficulties with the self-regulatory tasks of (i) identifying the need to regulate, (ii) deciding whether and how to regulate, and (iii) enacting a regulation strategy. Next we review evidence that a technique traditionally associated with regulating behavioural goals (forming
implementation intentions or ‘‘if-then’’ planning) can help to overcome these difficulties. Meta-analysis indicated that forming implementation intentions is effective in modifying emotional outcomes, with a large effect relative to no regulation instructions (k = 21, N = 1306 d = 0.91, 95% CI = 0.61 to 1.20) and a medium-sized effect relative to goal intention instructions (k = 29, N = 1208, d = 0.53, 95% CI = 0.42 to 0.65). Our conclusion is that research on emotion regulation might benefit from an action control perspective and the
interventions that this perspective offers.
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... Similarly, it will be important for future research to examine how emotional styles are associated not only with worry and different anxiety disorders, but also with other facets of anxiety (e.g., examining somatic anxiety as well as cognitive anxiety). Finally, to explore the issue of causality, longitudinal research as well true experiments manipulating affect intensity and emotional awareness is needed (e.g., Boden and Berenbaum 2007;Moon and Berenbaum 2009). Although additional questions remain, the results of the present study suggest important avenues for future research along with clues that may help untangle the puzzle of why some individuals develop only depression, some develop only worry, and some develop both types of distress. ...
This study examined how elevated levels of worry and anhedonic depression are associated with affect intensity, attention
to emotion, and clarity of emotion. University students (N=923) completed the Affect Intensity Measure, the Trait Meta Mood Scale, the Penn State Worry Questionnaire and the anhedonic
depression subscale from the Mood and Anxiety Symptom Questionnaire. Control individuals with worry and depression scores
below the median (n=158) were compared with three distress groups—elevated worry without elevated depression (n=58), elevated depression without elevated worry (n=35), and elevated levels of both worry and depression (n=39). The control and distress groups each differed significantly from one another, and these differences could not be accounted
for by gender or neuroticism. Controls resembled individuals described in past research as being cerebral, the depression-only
group resembled individuals described as being cool, the worry-only group resembled individuals described as hot, and the
dual-distress group resembled individuals described as overwhelmed.
KeywordsDepression–Worry–Emotion–Emotional awareness–Affect intensity
... Previous research findings, however, suggest that increasing acceptance and mindfulness-based attention to emotions may help to counteract emotional craving. For instance, a study by Moon and Berenbaum (2009) revealed that low levels of attention to emotion were associated with higher levels of emotional eating. Although the present findings are promising, some limitations remain. ...
The present study examined whether mindfulness-based strategies can effectively reduce food cravings in an overweight and obese adult population. Individuals participating in a dietary group treatment for overweight received an additional 7-week manual based training that aimed to promote regulation of cravings by means of acceptance. The control group did not receive this additional training program. The results showed that participants in the experimental group reported significantly lower cravings for food after the intervention compared to the control group. The findings are discussed in terms of possible mechanisms like prevention of goal frustration, disengagement of obsessive thinking and reduction of automatic relations between urge and reaction.
... Feldman Barrett, Gross, and colleagues also theorize that individual differences in emotional processes " sets the stage for emotion regulation " (Feldman Barrett et al., 2001, p. 721). To determine whether emotional awareness plays a causal role in influencing any dimensions of emotional experiences, however, future research should employ two alternative strategies: (a) experimental manipulation of emotional awareness (e.g., Boden & Berenbaum, 2007; Moon & Berenbaum, 2009); and (b) longitudinal designs including ecological momentary assessment (e.g., Trull et al., 2008). Another advantage to using an ecological momentary assessment design is that it would permit the examination of other facets of affective instability. ...
The relation between affective instability and two facets of emotional awareness, attention to emotion and clarity of emotion, was examined in two community samples (Ns = 303, 101) and one student sample (N=409). Affective instability was positively associated with attention to emotion and negatively associated with clarity of emotion. The two facets of affective instability, affect intensity and emotional variability, were differentially associated with the two components of emotional awareness. As hypothesized, affect intensity was uniquely associated with attention to emotion, whereas emotional variability was uniquely (inversely) associated with clarity of emotion even after taking into account shared variance with neuroticism and gender.
Objective: Emotional eating is prevalent among college women. Deficits in interoceptive awareness, or the ability to perceive and identify internal sensations, are associated with emotional eating. Separately examining the specific components of interoceptive awareness, appetite and emotional awareness, in relation to emotional eating may improve prevention and treatment of emotional eating in college women.
Participants: 143 women at an urban Northeastern university.
Methods: This was a cross-sectional study using self-report measures of interoceptive awareness, appetite and emotional awareness, emotional eating, and depression. Simultaneous regression analyses examined the independent association of appetite and emotional awareness with emotional eating, controlling for depression.
Results: Consistent with hypotheses, lower interoceptive awareness was associated with higher emotional eating. Appetite and emotional awareness, were each uniquely associated with emotional eating independent of depression, even when entered simultaneously.
Conclusions: Future prevention and treatment of emotional eating in college women should target improvements in appetite and emotional awareness.
Binge eating has been found to be associated with urgency (the tendency to act impulsively in response to negative affect) and emotional awareness (i.e., attention to emotions, clarity of emotions). The present study tested the hypothesis that the relation between binge eating and urgency would be moderated by emotional awareness, over and above negative affect. Participants were 249 female college students. Items from the Trait Meta Mood Scale (TMMS), the Urgency subscale of the UPPS Impulsive Behavior Scale, and the Bulimia (B) subscale of the Eating Disorders Inventory (EDI-3) were administered. As predicted, emotional awareness moderated the link between urgency and binge eating. Both Urgency×Attention to emotions and Urgency×Clarity of emotions significantly predicted binge eating scores, even after taking into account negative affect. Consistent with past research, higher levels of urgency were associated with higher levels of binge eating, even after taking negative affect into account. However, the associations were particularly strong among individuals with low levels of attention to emotions and low levels of clarity of emotions. The findings from this study have implications for future research examining binge eating.
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Coronary Heart Disease (CHD) is associated with emotions, especially negative ones, namely anxiety and depression. Emotional Intelligence (EI) is a psychological model that consists of a variety of emotional skills.
The aim of the present study was to examine the relation between different dimensions of Emotional Intelligence and coronary heart disease.
A total of 300 participants were studied during a 3-year period in an attempt to partially replicate and further expand a previous study conducted in Greece among CHD patients, which indicated a strong association between certain dimensions of Emotional Intelligence and the incidence of CHD. All participants completed a self-report questionnaire, assessing several aspects of Emotional Intelligence.
The results showed that there is a link between the regulation of emotions and the occurrence of CHD.
The evidence reported in the present study makes stronger the claim that EI plays a significant role in the occurrence of CHD.
In a sample of 304 female college students, the present study examined how body image is associated with (a) clarity of emotion; (b) attention to emotion; and (c) negative affect. Two separate facets of body image were examined: body satisfaction and body distortion. Greater clarity of emotion was associated with greater body satisfaction and less body distortion, and these associations could not be accounted for by negative affect. Body satisfaction was significantly predicted by the three-way interaction of clarity of emotion, attention to emotion, and negative affect. Attention to emotion moderated the association between clarity of emotion and body satisfaction only among high negative affect individuals. Specifically, greater clarity of emotion was associated with greater body satisfaction in all participants except those who were high in both negative affect and attention to emotion.
In two samples of college students (Ns = 116 and 141), this research investigated the ways in which individuals differ in their experience of emotion. Four latent traits emerged from scales assessing such differences—Intensity, Attention, Expression, and Clarity. In both samples, these latent traits were found to be involved in reports of personality, well-being, coping, and explanatory style. Clarity was positively associated with measures of positive well-being and nega- tively associated with measures of negative well-being. Individuals who experi- ence intense emotions (Intensity), who attend to them often (Attention), or who notably express them (Expression), reported coping by focusing on and venting their emotions and by seeking social support. Individuals who are adept at iden- tifying their emotions (Clarity) reported engaging in active, planful coping and in positive reinterpretations of events. Individuals high on Clarity made self- affirming attributions for good events.
Increasing interest in individual differences related to emotion is evident in the recent appearance of a large number of self-report instruments designed to assess aspects of the feeling experience. In this article, the authors review a sample of 18 of these scales and report technical information on each (e.g., length, format, reliability, construct validity, and correlates). They propose that this domain of individual differences can be usefully structured into five conceptual categories, including measures of absorption, attention, clarity, intensity, and expression. The measures were administered to a sample of individuals, and the coherence of the proposed categories was examined through hierarchical cluster analyses. The results confirmed the proposed structure of this domain of individual difference measures. The authors argue for the usefulness of an individual differences approach to theory testing and specify some of the information-processing roles that might be played by the categories of individual differences found in the data.
The effects of dialectical behavior therapy adapted for the treatment of binge/purge behaviors were examined.
Thirty-one women (averaging at least one binge/purge episode per week) were randomly assigned to 20 weeks of dialectical behavior therapy or 20 weeks of a waiting-list comparison condition. The manual-based dialectical behavior therapy focused on training in emotion regulation skills.
An intent-to-treat analysis showed highly significant decreases in binge/purge behavior with dialectical behavior therapy compared to the waiting-list condition. No significant group differences were found on any of the secondary measures.
The use of dialectical behavior therapy adapted for treatment of bulimia nervosa was associated with a promising decrease in binge/purge behaviors.
This study evaluated the use of dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) adapted for binge eating disorder (BED). Women with BED (N = 44) were randomly assigned to group DBT or to a wait-list control condition and were administered the Eating Disorder Examination in addition to measures of weight, mood, and affect regulation at baseline and posttreatment. Treated women evidenced significant improvement on measures of binge eating and eating pathology compared with controls, and 89% of the women receiving DBT had stopped binge eating by the end of treatment. Abstinence rates were reduced to 56% at the 6-month follow-up. Overall, the findings on the measures of weight, mood, and affect regulation were not significant. These results support further research into DBT as a treatment for BED.
People regulate their affect either to feel good or to achieve instrumental success. The present experiments show that when driven by performance goals, people can be motivated to experience unpleasant affect when it is trait-consistent, because of its instrumental benefits (e.g., M. Tamir & M. D. Robinson, 2004). In 4 studies, individuals high in neuroticism were more likely than those low in neuroticism to choose to increase their level of worry, as indicated by self-reported preferences (Study 1) and by behavioral choices in experimental settings (Studies 2-4). As predicted, such preferences were evident when expecting to perform demanding tasks but not when expecting an undemanding task (Study 2). Study 4 suggests that such preferences for short-term unpleasant affect may be beneficial to performance.
The development of the Emotional Eating Scale (EES) is described. The factor solution replicated the scale's construction, revealing Anger/Frustration, Anxiety, and Depression subscales. All three subscales correlated highly with measures of binge eating, providing evidence of construct validity. None of the EES subscales correlated significantly with general measures of psychopathology. With few exceptions, changes in EES subscales correlated with treatment‐related changes in binge eating. In support of the measure's discriminant efficiency, when compared with obese binge eaters, subscale scores of a sample of anxiety‐disordered patients were significantly lower. Lack of correlation between a measure of cognitive restraint and EES subscales suggests that emotional eating may precipitate binge episodes among the obese independent of the level of restraint. The 25‐item scale is presented in an Appendix (Arnow, B., Kenardy, J., & Agras, W.S.: International Journal of Eating Disorders, 17, 00‐00, 1995). © 1995 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
The development of the Dutch Eating Behaviour Questionnaire (DEBQ) with scales for restrained, emotional, and external eating is described. Factor analyses have shown that all items on restrained and external eating each have high loadings on one factor, but items on emotional eating have two dimensions, one dealing with eating in response to diffuse emotions, and the other with eating in response to clearly labelled emotions. The pattern of corrected item-total correlation coefficients and of the factors was very similar for various subsamples, which indicates a high degree of stability of dimensions on the eating behavior scales. The norms and Cronbach's alpha coefficients of the scales and also the Pearson's correlation coefficients to assess interrelationships between scales indicate that the scales have a high internal consistency and factorial validity. However, their external validity has yet to be investigated.
An ACT Approach Chapter 1. What is Acceptance and Commitment Therapy? Steven C. Hayes, Kirk D. Strosahl, Kara Bunting, Michael Twohig, and Kelly G. Wilson Chapter 2. An ACT Primer: Core Therapy Processes, Intervention Strategies, and Therapist Competencies. Kirk D. Strosahl, Steven C. Hayes, Kelly G. Wilson and Elizabeth V. Gifford Chapter 3. ACT Case Formulation. Steven C. Hayes, Kirk D. Strosahl, Jayson Luoma, Alethea A. Smith, and Kelly G. Wilson ACT with Behavior Problems Chapter 4. ACT with Affective Disorders. Robert D. Zettle Chapter 5. ACT with Anxiety Disorders. Susan M. Orsillo, Lizabeth Roemer, Jennifer Block-Lerner, Chad LeJeune, and James D. Herbert Chapter 6. ACT with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder. Alethea A. Smith and Victoria M. Follette Chapter 7. ACT for Substance Abuse and Dependence. Kelly G. Wilson and Michelle R. Byrd Chapter 8. ACT with the Seriously Mentally Ill. Patricia Bach Chapter 9. ACT with the Multi-Problem Patient. Kirk D. Strosahl ACT with Special Populations, Settings, and Methods Chapter 10. ACT with Children, Adolescents, and their Parents. Amy R. Murrell, Lisa W. Coyne, & Kelly G. Wilson Chapter 11. ACT for Stress. Frank Bond. Chapter 12. ACT in Medical Settings. Patricia Robinson, Jennifer Gregg, JoAnne Dahl, & Tobias Lundgren Chapter 13. ACT with Chronic Pain Patients. Patricia Robinson, Rikard K. Wicksell, Gunnar L. Olsson Chapter 14. ACT in Group Format. Robyn D. Walser and Jacqueline Pistorello
The development of the Dutch Eating Behaviour Questionnaire (DEBQ) with scales for restrained, emotional, and external eating is described. Factor analyses have shown that all items on restrained and external eating each have high loadings on one factor, but items on emotional eating have two dimensions, one dealing with eating in response to diffuse emotions, and the other with eating in response to clearly labelled emotions. The pattern of corrected item-total correlation coefficients and of the factors was very similar for various subsamples, which indicates a high degree of stability of dimensions on the eating behavior scales. The norms and Cronbach's alpha coefficients of the scales and also the Pearson's correlation coefficients to assess interrelationships between scales indicate that the scales have a high internal consistency and factorial validity. However, their external validity has yet to be investigated.
Examined the prevalence of bulimia and frequent binge eating in female college students. Sex differences in binge eating and in labeling one's behavior as binge eating were also assessed. Ss were 485 female and 327 male college students. Of all Ss, 49% reported binge eating. More women than men reported binge eating and labeled their behavior as such. While 56% of women reported binge eating, only 7.2% reported 8 or more episodes per month. Approximately 4% of women fulfilled operationalized Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-III (DSM-III) criteria for bulimia. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
This study examined the different facets of emotional intelligence, alexithymia, and mood awareness. Undergraduate students (N=129) completed the Trait Meta-Mood Scale (TMMS), the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20), and the Mood Awareness Scale (MAS). A factor analysis revealed two dimensions, attention to and clarity of emotions, that cut across all three instruments. These two dimensions were differentially associated with personality, as measured by the neuroticism, extraversion, and openness to experience portions of the NEO-FFI, and with performance on an emotional Stroop task. We discuss the implications for the conceptualisation of broad constructs such as emotional intelligence and alexithymia, as well as the potential utility of more narrowly defined individual differences. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Binge eating is a common problem associated with distress and dysfunction. Mindfulness-based interventions are attracting increasing attention, and the recent empirical literature suggests that they may be effective for a variety of disorders. Current theories about the etiology and maintenance of binge eating suggest that mindfulness training may be helpful for this problem. This report describes the use of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT; Segal, Williams, & Teasdale, 2002) in the treatment Of a client with subthreshold binge eating disorder. Posttreatment and 6 month follow-up data showed excellent improvements in binge eating symptoms as well as increased levels of mindfulness.
This study examined the prevalence of bulimia and frequent binge eating in female college students. Additionally, sex differences in binge eating and in labeling one's behavior as binge eating were assessed. All students in an introductory psychology course, 485 women and 327 men, were subjects. Of all students, 49% reported binge eating. Significantly more women than men reported binge eating and labeled their behavior as such. While 56% of the women reported binge eating, only 7.2% reported eight or more episodes per month. Approximately 4% of the women sampled fulfilled operationalized DSM-III criteria for bulimia.
We propose a taxonomy of emotional disturbances composed of (a) emotional valence disturbances, (b) emotional intensity/regulation disturbances, and (c) emotion disconnections. Our rationale for developing such a taxonomy is that it can draw additional attention to the importance of emotional disturbances and can provide a framework for organizing both what we already know and what we have yet to explore. We believe such an effort is important because emotional disturbances, which are ubiquitous among individuals with psychopatholog-ical conditions, can provide incremental predictive power above and beyond traditional diagnostic categories. We discuss the potential clinical utility of our proposed taxonomy and provide recommendations for future research.
The development of the Emotional Eating Scale (EES) is described. The factor solution replicated the scale's construction, revealing Anger/Frustration, Anxiety, and Depression subscales. All three subscales correlated highly with measures of binge eating, providing evidence of construct validity. None of the EES subscales correlated significantly with general measures of psychopathology. With few exceptions, changes in EES subscales correlated with treatment-related changes in binge eating. In support of the measure's discriminant efficiency, when compared with obese binge eaters, subscale scores of a sample of anxiety-disordered patients were significantly lower. Lack of correlation between a measure of cognitive restraint and EES subscales suggests that emotional eating may precipitate binge episodes among the obese independent of the level of restraint. The 25-item scale is presented in an Appendix (Arnow, B., Kenardy, J., & Agras, W.S.: International Journal of Eating Disorders, 17, 00-00, 1995). © 1995 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
As part of a pretreatment assessment battery, social phobics were required to participate in two impromptu speech tasks, scheduled one week apart. The reliability of psysiological, cognitive, and behavioral variables collected during the speech was assessed. The results indicated that the data collected during this task were consistent across the two assessment periods, indicating the reliability of this procedure for the behavioral assessment of social phobia. The results are discussed in terms of the usefulness of this procedure in assessing various dimensions of social phobia.
The objective was to study alexithymia and its relationship with anxiety and depression in eating disorders (ED) in a Spanish sample. One hundred and fifty-one females with an eating disorder: 25 with anorexia nervosa, restricting subtype (ANR), 44 with anorexia nervosa, bulimic subtype (ANB), and 82 with bulimia nervosa (BN) [according to criteria from DSM-IV (American Psychiatric Association, 1994)], and a control group of 43 females, were assessed with the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20), the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and the Self-Rating Anxiety Scale (SAS). Patients with ED present higher rates of alexithymia than controls, but after controlling for anxiety and depression the differences among groups disappear. Depression and anxiety predicted and correlated positively with alexithymia. Our findings are consistent with previous studies, and suggest that alexithymia is closely related to anxiety and depression, and could be a trait or a state in patients with ED.
Individuals meeting criteria of the revised third edition of Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders (American Psychiatric Association, 1987) for social phobia with a fear of speaking in front of people were subdivided into those with (n = 16) and without (n = 14) avoidant personality disorder (APD). These individuals and nonanxious controls (n = 22) spoke in front of a small audience while speaking time, subjective anxiety, fearful thoughts, and electrocardiographic and respiratory measures were recorded. Controls spoke for longer than either social phobia group. Those with social phobia and APD reported more subjective anxiety and more fear cognitions than the other two groups; phobic individuals without APD showed greater heart rates in the phobic situation than either social phobics with APD or controls. The latter two groups did not differ in heart rate. These results indicate incongruent subjective and heart rate responses to the feared situation. A similar pattern of results was found when participants were divided into generalized and specific social phobia groups.
Binge-eating episodes have alternately been described as stemming from strict dieting behaviors driven by overvalued ideas of weight and shape, or as arising from problematic interpersonal experiences. A third way of conceptualizing an eating binge is as a maladaptive emotion-regulation strategy, suggesting that facilitating more adaptive and effective affect regulation capacities may be a useful treatment. Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), a treatment aimed at increasing emotion regulation skill, is currently being adapted for use with a binge-eating disorder population. Assumptions underlying the treatment, methods in treatment delivery, and goals of the treatment package are discussed. A pilot study currently underway of group DBT therapy for individuals with Binge-Eating Disorder is described.
We investigated the extent to which different forms of eating behavior as assessed by the Dutch Eating Behaviour Questionnaire are related to facets of the Big Five personality domains.
Respondents were 167 psychology students (126 females and 41 males) who volunteered for the study.
Body mass index (BMI) and gender had significant main effects on eating behaviors. These results were moderated by a significant BMI x Gender interaction on emotional eating. Eating behaviors were significantly related to the personality facets associated with Neuroticism and Conscientiousness.
The results are discussed with reference to previous research on eating behaviors and the nature of Neuroticism and Conscientiousness.
Five studies tested two general hypotheses: Individuals differ in their use of emotion regulation strategies such as reappraisal and suppression, and these individual differences have implications for affect, well-being, and social relationships. Study 1 presents new measures of the habitual use of reappraisal and suppression. Study 2 examines convergent and discriminant validity. Study 3 shows that reappraisers experience and express greater positive emotion and lesser negative emotion, whereas suppressors experience and express lesser positive emotion, yet experience greater negative emotion. Study 4 indicates that using reappraisal is associated with better interpersonal functioning, whereas using suppression is associated with worse interpersonal functioning. Study 5 shows that using reappraisal is related positively to well-being, whereas using suppression is related negatively.
Personality traits have been implicated in the onset, symptomatic expression, and maintenance of eating disorders (EDs). The present article reviews literature examining the link between personality and EDs published within the past decade, and presents a meta-analysis evaluating the prevalence of personality disorders (PDs) in anorexia nervosa (AN), bulimia nervosa (BN), and binge eating disorder (BED) as assessed by self-report instruments versus diagnostic interviews. AN and BN are both consistently characterized by perfectionism, obsessive-compulsiveness, neuroticism, negative emotionality, harm avoidance, low self-directedness, low cooperativeness, and traits associated with avoidant PD. Consistent differences that emerge between ED groups are high constraint and persistence and low novelty seeking in AN and high impulsivity, sensation seeking, novelty seeking, and traits associated with borderline PD in BN. The meta-analysis, which found PD rates of 0 to 58% among individuals with AN and BN, documented that self-report instruments greatly overestimate the prevalence of every PD.
Women have been reported to use more emotion-regulation strategies than do men and to have more abilities to regulate their emotions in a different way. The aim of the present study was to examine gender differences in the relationships of alexithymia, negative mood, and the combination of alexithymia and negative mood with emotional eating in obese persons.
Four hundred thirteen obese individuals [343 females and 70 males, aged 18-60 years, mean=43.6 years, body mass index (BMI)=38.4+/-6.6 kg/m2] completed self-report questionnaires, including the Symptom Checklist-90 (SCL-90) questionnaire, the Dutch Eating Behavior Questionnaire (DEBQ), and the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS).
Hierarchical regression analysis showed a significant interaction between gender and alexithymia. More difficulty in identifying or describing feelings was specifically associated with more emotional eating in men.
These findings suggest that alexithymia is more strongly involved in emotional eating of obese men than women. This offers indications for designing gender-specific treatments for emotional eating among obese persons.
This research examined whether facets of schizotypy were differentially related to cognitive control and emotion-processing traits. In a confirmatory factor analysis (N = 261), a 3-factor model of schizotypy exhibited good fit and fit significantly better than a 2-factor model. In addition, only disorganized schizotypy was associated with poor cognitive control (specifically, prepotent inhibition). Moreover, disorganized but not positive schizotypy was associated with increased emotional confusion and increased emotionality. In contrast, negative schizotypy was associated with increased emotional confusion but decreased emotionality. These results suggest that disorganized schizotypy is related to dysregulation of both cognition and emotion and that negative schizotypy might reflect deficits in the experience and processing of emotion and not just in emotional expression.
Don't worry, be happy? Neuroticism, trait-consistent affect regulation, and performance Dialectical behavior therapy for binge eating disorder The Dutch Eating Behavior Questionnaire (DEBQ) for assessment of restrained, emotional, and external eating behavior
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- á1065 Vanstrien
- T Frijters
- J E R Bergers
- G P A Defares
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Gender differences in the association between alexithymia and emotional eating in obese individuals Dialectical behavior therapy for bulimia nervosa Emotional attention, clarity, and repair: Exploring emotional intelligence using the Trait Meta-Mood Scale
- J K Larsen
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- R C M E Engels
- á243 Safer
- D L Telch
- C F Agras
- W S Salovey
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- J D Goldman
- S L Turvey
- C Palfai
Larsen, J. K., van Strien, T., Eisinga, R., & Engels, R. C. M. E. (2006). Gender differences in the association between alexithymia and emotional eating in obese individuals. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 60, 237Á243. Safer, D. L., Telch, C. F., & Agras, W. S. (2001). Dialectical behavior therapy for bulimia nervosa. American Journal of Psychiatry, 158, 632Á634. Salovey, P., Mayer, J. D., Goldman, S. L., Turvey, C., & Palfai, T. P. (1995). Emotional attention, clarity, and repair: Exploring emotional intelligence using the Trait Meta-Mood Scale. In J. W. Pennebaker (Ed.), Emotion, disclosure, and health (pp. 125Á154). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. Stice, E., Akutagawa, D., Gaggar, A., & Agras, W. S. (2000). Negative affect moderates the relation between dieting and binge eating. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 27, 218Á229.