Emotional Eating Disorder

Emotional eating is a disorder that involves the intake of food as motivated by an individual’s emotional state instead of biological processes (Canetti, Bachar, & Berry, 2002). Even if an individual is not hungry or already full, eating still continues as response or coping mechanism for certain emotional states, usually negative emotions such as anger, anxiety, confusion, loneliness, or sadness. Emotions related to stress also cause emotional eating. The common view of emotional eating is as a temporary condition triggered by the onset of certain emotions.

Commonly, this becomes a problem for people only when this has progressed to other problems such as depression or obesity. Nevertheless, the number of people experiencing emotional eating supported efforts to address the emotional problem in clinical practice. Emotional eating could also lead to serious physiological and psychological health problems if unresolved as well as comprise the possible manifestation of other underlying clinical problems. Addressing emotional eating becomes a preventive measure and solution to more serious problems.

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Treatment of the Disorder

Existing interventions include psychiatric counseling and diet monitoring by a nutritionist (Field et al. , 2008). However, the treatment of emotional eating depends on individualized diagnosis (Buchanan, 2004) because of variances in the causes and manifestations of the condition in different people. Emotional eating is a disorder with environmental and psychological components. These two components explain the causes and manifestations of emotional eating and point to intervention or treatment options that should consider these two components. The environmental component of emotional eating refers to two causes of the disorder.

One is social eating or the common practice of socialization around food. Social gatherings usually bond around food with people consuming more than usual to celebrate an occasion. It is also common for friends comforting each other and providing support, to eat comfort foods that are usually high in sugar. The other is the childhood habit of food as a means of expressing care or reward resulting to the development of emotionally driven attachment to food in adulthood. The celebration of every success is food, with the quantity reflecting the value of the success to the person.

All situations requiring comfort also calls for food intake. (Field et al. , 2008) The psychological component revolves around stress as the trigger for emotional eating. Stress elevates the cortisol levels of individuals. Cortisol is a hormone released by the body to respond to stress through heightened mental functioning or boost of energy. However, excessive release of cortisol could cause people to crave for food. Anxiety and depression could also cause people to eat to calm themselves or to ease their discomfort. (Canetti et al. , 2002)

Current and Future Research and Treatment Directions on Emotional Eating

The current research on emotional eating focuses on the causes and manifestations of emotional eating to diagnose individuals, the role of personality typologies in aiding diagnosis and identifying risk groups, the consideration of gender as a ways of determining risk groups, and treatment options. One explanation for emotional eating is general dissatisfaction. A study determining the propensity to engage in emotional eating of individuals, by using Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, indicated that people placing themselves at the lower levels of the needs hierarchy have a higher propensity to eat to ease their dissatisfaction.

(Timmerman & Acton, 2001) Mood association evolved as another explanation for emotional eating. Depression and negative moods have strong effects on emotional eating. The motivation for emotional eating is to experience the well-known pleasure in eating food, especially comfort foods such as sweets or junk food. Taking of midnight snacks due to the inability to sleep because of anxiety, depression and bad mood supported the association. (Bekker, van de Meerendonk, & Mollerus, 2004; Grilo & Masheb, 2004) Human ecology also emerged as a causal explanation for emotional eating.

The positive factors associated to food determine emotional attachment to food in times of anxiety, depression or stress. The media also tempers people’s emotional attachment to food. (Field et al. , 2008) Research on the means of diagnosing emotional eating and other closely related eating disorders focused on personality typologies to help in identifying risk groups. People with personality disorders comprise a significant number of people diagnosed with emotional eating and other eating disorders (Picot & Lilenfeld, 2003).

Individuals with low self-esteem are also more susceptible to eating disorders (Beeker et al. , 2004). Impulsiveness and thrill-seeking behaviors are also more likely to develop eating disorders with the fulfillment of cravings made to satisfy the need to experience new sensations (Grilo & Masheb, 2004). Gender, age and race are also focus of studies on risk groups for emotional eating. The study of night eating showed that men are more likely to eat food after dinner (Grilo & Masheb, 2004).

Women and minority groups have greater concerns over shape and weight due to media influence and cultural norms leading to the perception of food as tempting pleasures. This leads to the attachment of comfort and pleasure to food. (Patel, Pratt, & Walcott, 2003; Ross & Wade, 2004; Vingerhoets, Nyklicek, & Denollet, 2008) There are two interlinked research trends on interventions for emotional eating. One is prevention through early detection via psychological tests. The questionnaire for eating disorders (Q-EDD) could be a diagnostic measure for emotional eating intended to apply to all eating disorders (Callahan et al.

, 2003; Milos et al. , 2005). This is a general diagnostic test for all kinds of eating disorders with psychological components. The emotional eating scale (EES) remains an important specific tool in determining people susceptible to emotional eating as well as identifying the existence of concurrent disorders such as depression or personality disorders. (Palmer, 2005; Courbasson, Rizea, & Weiskopf, 2008) Interviews are important diagnostic tools in determining case history and personality factors (Callahan et al.

, 2003; Palmer, 2005). The other research trend is treatment, which could be either inpatient or outpatient depending on the co-occurrence of other disorders. The goal of treatment could be the achievement of healthy weight through behavioral weight management programs, alleviation of physical complications, management of co-occurring psychological disorders through drug administration and/or psychotherapy, and ensuring non-relapse through self-help strategies (Pritts & Susman, 2003).

Other interventions include anxiety and stress management, diet, exercise, and an overall healthy lifestyle for people without co-occurring psychological disorders to stop emotional eating. A number of alternative treatments exist to stop emotional eating by targeting stress such as acupuncture, relaxation exercises, and herbal medicine. (Cleary & Crafti, 2007)