Acceptance and Commitment Therapy on Emotional Overeating and Stress in Women with Eating Disorders

Eating disorders are considered as a psychological disorder. This type of disorder causes physical and mental impairment disrupts the quality of life of the affected person and may increase mortality. Research evidence suggests that emotions greatly affect eating choices and eating behaviors, and eating behaviors have an impact on excitement. Studies have also shown that emotions like stress, depression and anger increase eating behaviors. Given that stress and excitement have led to an increase in eating in women, this leads to obesity and the risk of death, and that admission and commitment training as a treatment method are criteria for a good treatment, but domestic research that has an impact. This method has not been considered for emotional overeating and stress. Therefore, the main goal of this study was to determine the effectiveness of acceptance and commitment therapy to eating and stress in women with eating disorder.

This study was a quantitative study. In this study, a semi–experimental design, a pre–test and post–test design with control group was used to determine the effect of admission and commitment therapy on emotional overeating and stress in women with eating disorder. The statistical population of this study was all women with eating disorder in Tehran (capital city of Iran). Of this community, 30 were selected purposefully and randomly replaced in two groups in experimental and control (n=15 for each group); in the replacement of individuals, both groups (experiment and control) tried to match the age, education, and cultural conditions. The method of execution was to start the research after receiving the letter from the university and coordinating with the officials of the clinic in Tehran. First, for the experimental and control groups, a pre–test of the emotional and stress–seeking questionnaire was performed for both groups. Acceptance and commitment treatment sessions were performed in 8 sessions for the experimental group, but no intervention was applied to the control group. Immediately after the completion of the experimental intervention for the experimental group and the post–test group, an interpersonal relationship was performed. Thus, the required data finally, using SPSS software version 20 and test covariance was analyzed for the findings.

In this study, 30 women with eating disorder were present. The mean age of women was 41.33 years with a standard deviation of 3.12. The results showed that the mean emotional eating score of the experimental group decreased from 50.13±10.72 to 38.43±10.52 and the stress from 43.10±8.13 to 32.19±8.97, respectively. The results of covariance analysis indicated that the treatment of admission and commitment of emotional overeating and stress decreases in women with eating disorder (p<0.001).

Treatment of admission and commitment to emotional overeating and stress in women with eating disorder is effective. In explaining this result, it can be concluded that adherence–based therapy and commitment based on the techniques and content that are present in the sessions have led to a reduction emotional binge eating and stress. In this method of therapy, the individual fully treats experiences and mental perceptions without any internal or external reaction to their elimination, and as a result, he increases his mental awareness to normal focus on eating patterns. Focus on normalizing eating patterns. This type of acceptance and commitment in the individual leads to the planning and termination of overeating and evacuation cycles, and is taught to consume less food on a regular basis. Therefore, it is suggested that counselors and therapists use this method more often for those with eating disorder. It is also suggested that future studies should be conducted on other age and sex groups. This treatment should be compared in larger groups and with other therapies, and in the follow–up period, the continuation of its therapeutic effect should be investigated.