Causes of emotional eating and matched treatment of obesity

This 2018 narrative review describes the possible causes of emotional eating (EE) and EE’s relationship with depression and obesity, and discusses the significance of these findings for the management of obesity. Van Strien (2018) points out that high dietary restraint, poor interoceptive awareness, alexithymia (difficulty in experiencing, expressing, and describing emotional responses), emotion dysregulation and a reversed hypothalamic pituitary adrenal (HPA) stress axis may cause EE, while also believing it may be due to inadequate parenting or the combination of depressive feelings with genetic susceptibility. Additionally, there is robust evidence indicating EE’s mediating role in depression and obesity. Since EE was associated with depression and poor emotion regulation skills,, it may be advisable to treat obese people with EE based on their emotional regulation skills, rather than focusing on implementing calorie-lowering diets. [NPID: craving, emotional eating, depression, obesity, interoception, interoceptive awareness, alexithymia, emotional dysregulation, hypothalamic pituitary adrenal, HPA, regulation, emotion regulation, obesity]

Year: 2018

Reference: van Strien T. (2018). Causes of Emotional Eating and Matched Treatment of Obesity. Current diabetes reports, 18(6), 35. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11892-018-1000-x

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