Testing if Reductions in Negative Affect Yield Decreased Emotional Eating Symptoms
- Conditions
- Emotional MaladjustmentEating Disorder SymptomNegative Thoughts
- Interventions
- Behavioral: Cognitive Bias TreatmentBehavioral: Relaxation Condition
- Registration Number
- NCT03040076
- Lead Sponsor
- Florida State University
- Brief Summary
The purpose of this study to test a computerized treatment designed to help people with high levels of emotional eating, which is when people eat to cope with negative emotions and/or stressful situations. The investigators are interested in comparing two different ways of coping with negative emotions, relaxation training or training in how to think differently about such situations. Additionally, the researchers' study seeks to understand more about the psychological factors that may contribute to someone having difficulty with emotional eating.
- Detailed Description
Emotional eating, or eating as a mechanism for coping with negative affect, is present across a spectrum of eating disorders and is associated with poor health outcomes, namely obesity. Research suggests that individuals with emotional eating experience urges to eat in response to multiple negative emotions, including anxiety, depression, and anger. While emotional eating is related to binge eating, it can be examined in a more dimensional fashion because it is not associated with a specific size criterion or a requirement of loss of control over eating. As such, emotional eating is a useful analog through which to understand mechanisms of binge eating and test the preliminary efficacy of treatment interventions. Interventions that target mechanisms of regulating negative affect may reduce both negative affect and emotional eating, increasing their transdiagnostic value. Research suggests that a large gap exists between the prevalence of psychopathology and access to psychological treatment, and this gap extends to individuals with eating disorders. A potential solution to these challenges is the use of computerized methodologies that may be easier to disseminate, allow for a gradient of treatment intensity, and do not rely upon training treatment providers. Computer-administered CBM interventions address the need for more easily disseminated treatments. CBM interventions are based in research suggesting that negative interpretation biases cause negative emotionality and subsequent symptom expression. Negative interpretation biases are the tendency to draw threatening conclusions about ambiguous information. Thus, CBM paradigms train people to make neutral or positive attributions about situations they would typically view through the lens of their negative biases. CBM interventions have been tested across a range of psychopathology, including anxiety disorders, depression, and anger, and using a variety of different bias modification techniques. Two recent CBM studies have been tested within the field of eating disorders. Although results were promising, both studies were marked by methodological limitations and neither addressed emotional eating specifically. The purpose of the present study is to test a CBM intervention designed to help individuals with elevated emotional eating improve their ability to regulate negative affect. In doing so, the investigators will determine if modifying the interpretation of ambiguous situations that would typically result in negative affect can reduce negative affect in individuals with high emotional eating. The researchers will in turn determine if those individuals have decreased food consumption under conditions that would otherwise elicit negative emotions. This project extends initial research on CBMs in eating disorders, as well as research suggesting that basic emotion regulation training can decrease emotional eating.
Recruitment & Eligibility
- Status
- TERMINATED
- Sex
- Female
- Target Recruitment
- 28
- Female between the ages of 18 and 45 years of age
- An emotional eating score more than one SD above the mean (>2.9) on the Dutch Eating Behavior Questionnaire (DEBQ) emotional eating scale (van Strien, Frijters, Bergers, & Defares, 1986).
- Regular computer and internet access
- Rate liking of vanilla frozen yogurt as a 6 or higher on a 10 point scale.
- Body mass index (BMI; kg/m2) less than 18.5 (World Health Organization, 2000), given known cognitive impairments that can result from being underweight (Fowler et al., 2006).
- Current psychotic, manic, or substance use disorders, as these may interfere with their ability to cognitively engage in the intervention.
- Food allergies that would prevent consumption of vanilla frozen yogurt.
Study & Design
- Study Type
- INTERVENTIONAL
- Study Design
- PARALLEL
- Arm && Interventions
Group Intervention Description Cognitive Bias Treatment Cognitive Bias Treatment Intervention condition Relaxation Condition Relaxation Condition Active control condition
- Primary Outcome Measures
Name Time Method Change in Word Sentence Association Paradigm Scores Assessed at baseline (time zero), mid-treatment (8 days after baseline), and post-treatment (2 weeks after baseline). A modified version of the treatment condition Word Sentence Association Paradigm (WSAP; Amir \& Taylor, 2012b; Beard \& Amir, 2008; Hindash \& Amir, 2012) will be used to assess interpretation bias. The ambiguous sentences will be distinct from those used in the bias modification program in order to allow for a more generalized assessment of change in biases. However, to permit an accurate assessment of changes in bias, the WSAP task will be the same at pre-, mid and post treatment. Scores on the WSAP task are calculated as the ratio of percent threatening to percent benign interpretations across the trials. Change in scores at each of the time points will be used to determine symptom improvement.
Change in Emotional Overeating Questionnaire Scores Assessed at baseline (time zero), mid-treatment (8 days after baseline), and post-treatment (2 weeks after baseline). Emotional eating will be measured using the 6-item Emotional Overeating Questionnaire (EOQ; Masheb \& Grilo, 2006), in which participants report on the frequency of eating in response to five negative emotions and one positive emotion. The instructions and item scaling will be modified to decrease the timeframe assessed from 28 days to 5 days, in order to be sensitive to changes during the present intervention. Each item will be assessed on a 5-point scale (0= no days to 5 = every day). Further, the instructions will be modified to not specifically reference eating an objectively large amount of food. This change is made in order to ensure consistency with how emotional eating is conceptualized in the literature (i.e., no specific size criterion). Change in scores at each of the time points will be used to determine symptom improvement.
Change in Positive and Negative Affect Schedule Scores Assessed at baseline (time zero), mid-treatment (8 days after baseline), and post-treatment (2 weeks after baseline). Negative affect will be assessed using the negative affect scale of the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS; Watson, Clark, \& Tellegen, 1988), which is a 10-item measure of negative emotions on a scale of 1 ("very slightly or not at all) to 5 ("extremely"). The instructions can be modified as needed to reflect the desired timeframe of assessment (Watson et al., 1988) and therefore, we will instruct participants to consider the past five days.Change in scores at each of the time points will be used to determine symptom improvement.
- Secondary Outcome Measures
Name Time Method Body Mass Index Assessed at baseline (time zero). Body mass index (BMI) will be computed using participants' height, measured with a wall-mounted ruler, and weight, measured with an electronic scale.
Eating Pathology Symptoms Inventory Assessed at baseline (time zero) and post-treatment (2 weeks after baseline). Eating disorder symptoms will be measured using the 8-item binge eating subscale of the Eating Pathology Symptoms Inventory (EPSI; Forbush et al., 2013), which measures features of binge eating (e.g., consumption of large quantities of food, mindless eating) on a 5-point Likert scale from "never" to "very often." The EPSI scale is designed to assess behavior over the past 28 days (Forbush et al., 2013); however, to be sensitive to the timeframe of the present study, the instructions will be modified to ask participants to consider the past week.
Depression and Anxiety Stress Scale Assessed at baseline (time zero) and post-treatment (2 weeks after baseline). Depression, anxiety, and stress symptoms will be measured using the Depression and Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS; Lovibond \& Lovibond, 1995a). The DASS is a 42-item measure that assesses such symptoms over the preceding week on a 0 to 3 scale from "did not apply to me at all" to "applied to me very much, or most of the time."
Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale Assessed at baseline (time zero) and post-treatment (2 weeks after baseline). Emotion dysregulation will be assessed using the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS; Gratz \& Roemer, 2004). The DERS is a 36-item measure of six aspects of emotion dysregulation; all items are measured on a 1 ("almost never") to 5 ("almost always") scale and are not anchored to a specific timeframe.
Frozen Yogurt Consumption Assessed at post-treatment (2 weeks after baseline). Food intake will be measured as the difference in weight of the frozen yogurt before and after the test meal (Geliebter et al., 2012) that is part of the behavioral stress task. The investigators will also record the time taken (out of fifteen minutes) participants used to consume the food.
State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory, Second Edition Assessed at baseline (time zero) and post-treatment (2 weeks after baseline). Anger symptoms will be measured using the trait anger scale of the State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory, Second Edition (STAXI-2; Spielberger, 1999). Only the trait scale will be used in the present study given our interest in assessing overall anger symptoms, not momentary anger levels, as a moderating variable. The trait scale consists of 10 items that assess frequency of anger a 4-point scale from "almost never" to "almost always," but is not measured across a specific timeframe (Spielberger \& Reheiser, 2009).
Visual Analogue Scale Ratings Assessed at post-treatment (2 weeks after baseline). Before, during, and after a behavioral task designed to measure food consumption following stress, participants will complete Visual Analogue Scale (VAS; Rolls et al., 1992) ratings of hunger and fullness, as well as state affect (e.g., sad, anxious, frustrated, angry) by marking a 100-mm line (ends labeled from not at all to extremely).
Trial Locations
- Locations (1)
Eating Behaviors Research Clinic, Department of Psychology, Florida State University
🇺🇸Tallahassee, Florida, United States