Department of Psychology, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA, USA; Center for Weight, Eating and Lifestyle Science (WELL Center), Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
Department of Medical and Clinical Psychology, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, MD, USA.
Appetite. 2020 Jul 1;150:104634. doi: 10.1016/j.appet.2020.104634. Epub 2020 Feb 19.
Emotion-focused treatments are generally efficacious for improving emotion regulation and consequently, improving clinical symptoms across numerous disorders. However, emotion-focused treatment approaches often contain numerous treatment components, limiting our ability to identify which are most efficacious. As such, the current pilot study sought to isolate three components common across a range of emotion-focused treatments (i.e. emotional awareness, emotion down-regulation, and distress tolerance) and test the impact of each component on (1) emotion regulation and (2) emotional eating behavior. Adults (N = 76) who reported four or more emotional eating episodes in the past month were assigned to attend a one-time, three-hour workshop focused on either awareness, down-regulation or tolerance of emotions, and were subsequently evaluated at one-week and two-weeks follow-up. All groups experienced equivalent improvements in emotional eating at two-weeks follow-up (F [1.47, 85.38 ] = 7.60, p < .01). However, groups showed differential patterns of change across facets of emotion regulation. Improvements in access to healthy emotion regulation strategies was moderately related to improvements in emotional eating in Down-Regulation and Distress Tolerance groups (r [18] = 0.40, r [20] = 0.63, respectively). In the Distress Tolerance group, improvements in emotional eating were moderately related to improvements in acceptance of emotions (r[20] = 0.33) and ability to refrain from impulses (r[20] = 0.41). In the Emotional Awareness group, improvements in emotional acceptance (r[20] = 0.30), awareness (r[20] = 0.38) and clarity (r[20] = 0.39) were moderately related to improvements in emotional eating. While several components of emotion-focused treatments may improve outcomes, each component may demonstrate a unique mechanism of action. Further study is needed to isolate these treatment components in fully powered clinical trials to better understand the mechanisms of action for emotion-focused treatments and ultimately develop more efficient and effective treatment approaches.
情绪焦点治疗通常在改善情绪调节方面有效，从而改善多种疾病的临床症状。然而，情绪焦点治疗方法通常包含许多治疗成分，限制了我们识别最有效的治疗成分的能力。因此，目前的试点研究旨在分离出一系列情绪焦点治疗方法中常见的三个成分（即情绪意识、情绪下调和痛苦容忍），并测试每个成分对（1）情绪调节和（2）情绪进食行为的影响。在过去一个月报告有四次或更多情绪进食发作的成年人（N=76）被分配参加一次为期三小时的研讨会，重点关注情绪意识、下调或容忍，随后在一周和两周随访时进行评估。所有组在两周随访时都经历了情绪进食的同等改善（F[1.47，85.38]=7.60，p<.01）。然而，各组在情绪调节的各个方面表现出不同的变化模式。在情绪下调和痛苦容忍组中，获得健康情绪调节策略的能力的改善与情绪进食的改善中度相关（r[18]=0.40，r[20]=0.63）。在痛苦容忍组中，情绪进食的改善与情绪接受度（r[20]=0.33）和抑制冲动的能力（r[20]=0.41）的改善中度相关。在情绪意识组中，情绪接受度（r[20]=0.30）、意识（r[20]=0.38）和清晰度（r[20]=0.39）的改善与情绪进食的改善中度相关。虽然情绪焦点治疗的几个成分可能会改善结果，但每个成分可能都有独特的作用机制。需要进一步的研究来分离这些治疗成分，在充分功率的临床试验中，以更好地理解情绪焦点治疗的作用机制，并最终开发更有效和有效的治疗方法。
