Eating Disorders and Emotions: From Research Findings to Implications for Treatment

Among serious psychiatric illnesses, eating disorders (EDs) are recognized to prominently involve the mindbody relationship and, as such, emotions assume a crucial role in the onset and maintenance of symptoms (Levinson, Williams, & Christian, 2020; Racine & Horvath, 2020; Rojo-Bofill, Arribas-Saiz, & Rojo-Moreno, 2018). The aim of the symposium is to shed light on the processes of emotion expression, regulation, and dissociation that characterize the subjective experience of patients with EDs. The work of Caldiroli and colleagues conducted a thematic analysis of the literature on the role of alexithymia in EDs, and specifically in anorexia nervosa. Cella and colleagues’ study investigated the combined role of alexithymia, emotion dysregulation, and dissociation in the relationship between narcissism and binge eating in adolescents. Mariani and colleagues investigated the emotional regulation and symbolization processes in autobiographical narratives of patients with restrictive anorexia nervosa. Negri and colleagues’ study investigated the characteristics of shame expression in ED patients narratives elicited through shame-related images. All contributions highlighted the implications for treatments of these research findings on emotional processing in EDs.