Eating behaviours have been significantly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The increase of psychological distress, the effects of increased isolation, multiple lock-downs, change in routines and lifestyles have been found to impact people’s relationship with food. (https://www.sciencedirect.com/journal/appetite/special-issue/10PQ7HXZ535). A study of 25000 people in Norway in April 2020, found that 54% of the sample engaged in emotional eating during the onset of the pandemic (https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/1/130/htm). Australian research has also found that COVID-19 has led to increased disordered eating behaviour in those with an existing eating disorder as well as within the general population (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/eat.23317).
This workshop will give all participants practical strategies to help manage clients current emotional eating and binge eating behaviours.
The workshop will kick off with a discussion around the effects of COVID on eating patterns of the population. It will then outline the features of problematic emotional eating and differentiate it from responding to physical hunger. When clients present with problematic eating behaviours, it can be important to identify whether their presentation fits within an eating disorder diagnosis. This can be helpful for psycho-education purposes and has implications for treatment. Hence a key outcome of this workshop is to outline diagnostic criteria of different eating disorders. Based on Chris Fairburn’s CBT-E (Enhanced CBT) model, the first step in changing eating behaviours is to use a pros and cons reflection task, which will form part of the discussion. Following this a CBT-E based strategy on binge analysis will be outlined. Suggestions of how to minimize triggers and a number of behavioural strategies, will be given. These strategies form a powerful tool kit for clients to use when they feel the urge to binge or emotionally eat. The DBT strategy of IMPROVE the moment will be outlined to help clients manage their distress. We will also touch on the importance of mindfulness and mindful eating to compliment the strategies above.
Learning Objectives: