Title

An exploratory study of Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction for emotional eating

UMMS Affiliation

Department of Psychiatry; Department of Medicine, Center for Mindfulness; School of Medicine; Senior Scholars Program

Publication Date

2-1-2017

Document Type

Article

Disciplines

Alternative and Complementary Medicine | Behavior and Behavior Mechanisms | Mental and Social Health | Psychiatry | Psychiatry and Psychology

Abstract

Emotional eating is an important predictor of weight loss and weight regain after weight loss. This two part study's primary aim was to explore changes in emotional eating in a general population of individuals taking the Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program, with a secondary aim to explore whether changes in mindfulness predicted changes in emotional eating. Self-reported survey data exploring these questions were collected before and after the intervention for two sequential studies (Study 1 and Study 2). While there were no control groups for either study, in both studies emotional eating scores following the MBSR were significantly lower than scores prior to taking the MBSR (p < 0.001; p < 0.001) In Study 2, changes in mindfulness were correlated with changes in emotional eating (r = 0.317, p = 0.004). These results suggest that MBSR may be an effective intervention for emotional eating, and that further research is warranted to examine effects on weight loss and maintenance.

Keywords

Behavior change, Mindfulness, Weight loss

DOI of Published Version

10.1016/j.appet.2016.11.029

Source

Appetite. 2017 Feb 1;109:124-130. doi: 10.1016/j.appet.2016.11.029. Epub 2016 Nov 24. Link to article on publisher's site

Journal/Book/Conference Title

Appetite

Comments

Emily Levoy participated in this study as a medical student in the Senior Scholars research program at the University of Massachusetts Medical School.

Related Resources

Link to Article in PubMed

PubMed ID

27890474

Link to Full Text

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