Emotion regulation training to reduce problematic dietary restriction: An experimental analysis

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Behavioral Science
• Clinical Psychology

Background:

• Emotion regulation difficulties are linked to problematic dietary restriction.
• Emotion regulation has not been extensively studied as an intervention target for dietary restriction across varying severity levels.

Purpose of the Study:

• To experimentally investigate if targeting emotion regulation can decrease problematic dietary restriction.
• To compare the effects of emotion regulation training versus nutrition information training on dietary restriction.

Main Methods:

• An experimental design was used with a sample of 72 individuals who self-identified as restrictive eaters.
• Participants were assigned to either an emotion regulation training group or a nutrition information control group.
• Dietary restriction was measured using effort on progressive ratio tasks and dietary recall after a stressor.

Main Results:

• No significant main effects of the intervention condition were found on overall dietary restriction measures.
• Body Mass Index (BMI) moderated the results, with lower BMI participants showing reduced effort in the emotion regulation group.
• Specifically, participants with lower BMIs exerted less effort towards dietary restriction after emotion regulation training compared to the control group.

Conclusions:

• Targeting emotion regulation may be a viable strategy to reduce problematic dietary restriction, particularly in individuals with lower BMIs.
• Further research is needed to explore the nuances of emotion regulation interventions for diverse populations with dietary restriction.