Emotional dysregulation and the obsession with healthy eating: preliminary results of a psychoeducational intervention in adolescents.

Emotional regulation processes are always the focus of studies exploring eating styles. Emotional regulation represents the set of strategies and behavioural patterns that the individual implements to manage emotions. Alexithymia is defined as a disorder of emotional regulation in which a deactivating or avoidant strategy predominates, caused by the difficulty of cognitive and symbolic processing of emotional experience. Few studies in the literature explore the monitoring and emotional regulation abilities in subjects with orthorexic tendencies, characterised by an obsession with healthy eating. Alexithymia and suppressive emotional regulation strategies seem to be associated with a tendency towards restrictive dietary rules as a coping strategy to feel in control. The aim of the present study is to evaluate in a group of adolescents the effectiveness of a psychoeducational intervention in improving metacognitive emotional regulation skills and reducing pathological concerns about healthy eating. Methods: The sample consists of 65 students, predominantly female (61%), attending the second year of a school in the city of Foggia. Almost half of the sample exceeded the cut-off of alexithymia (44%). The subjects completed a battery of tests to assess alexithymia (TAS-20), emotional regulation strategies (ERQ) and orthorexic tendencies (TOS). Results: In line with the observational results, subjects with greater difficulties in recognising and discerning emotions appear to show more concerns about healthy characteristics of food. Difficulties in emotional regulation are associated with suppressive strategies (r=0.59; p<0.005). A significant difference in measures of orthorexia was observed following the psychoeducation intervention, with a decrease in scores at post-intervention follow-up (p<0.05). Discussions: The present study suggests that there is a correlation between emotional regulation factors and restrictive eating styles, similar to what is observed in other eating disorders. Psycho-educational interventions appear to have a moderate impact in reducing certain food choices.