Testing if Reductions in Negative Affect Yield Decreased Emotional Eating Symptoms

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.

Conditions

• Eating Disorder Symptom
• Emotional Maladjustment
• Negative Thoughts

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Cognitive Bias Treatment

Two computerized tasks will be administered during four intervention sessions. During the first task, the Word Sentence Association Paradigm, participants see a threat or benign word and then an ambiguous sentence. Participants press one if they believe the word and sentence are related and two if they believe the word and sentence are not related. Participants are given feedback that they responded correctly if they state that a benign word is related to the sentence or they state that a threat word is not related to the sentence. The second task is the Ambiguous Scenarios Task. In each trial, an ambiguous scenario, ending in a benign word, appears on the screen. After the scenario is presented, participants respond to a comprehension question and are given feedback on their performance.

BEHAVIORAL

Relaxation Condition

Participants assigned to the active control group will complete four sessions of progressive muscle relaxation training. Two alternating relaxation scripts will be used. The scripts will be presented as Youtube videos with a blank black screen and will instruct participants to keep their eyes closed for the duration of the training. Participants will access the videos through Qualtrics to ensure that data can be gathered about their compliance. The relaxation scripts used in the present study will be modified versions of those currently being tested by other researchers utilizing cognitive bias modification paradigms. The relaxation training sessions will be matched to the length of the treatment condition and therefore will last approximately 30 minutes.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Florida State University

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Pamela K Keel, Ph.D. · Department of Psychology, Florida State University

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

SINGLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Max Age

45 Years

Sex

FEMALE

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2017-03-28

Primary Completion

2017-05-03

Completion

2017-05-03

Countries

• United States

Study Locations