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Stress-related eating is increasingly cited as a difficulty in managing healthy eating behaviors and weight. However few interventions have been designed to specifically target stress-related eating. In addition, the optimal target of such an intervention is unclear, as the target might be conceptualized as overall stress reduction or changing emotional eating-related thoughts and behaviors. This pilot study compared the effects of three interventions targeting those components individually and in combination on stress-related eating, perceived stress, and weight loss to determine whether the two intervention components are effective alone or are more effective when combined. Fifty-three overweight participants (98% female) who reported elevated levels of stress and stress-eating and were at risk for obesity were randomly assigned to one of three six-week interventions: a modified mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) intervention, a cognitive behavioral stress-eating intervention (SEI), and a combined intervention that included all MBSR and SEI components. All three interventions significantly reduced perceived stress and stress-eating, but the combination intervention resulted in greater reductions and also produced a moderate effect on short term weight loss. Benefits persisted at six week follow-up.The pattern of results preliminarily suggests that the combination intervention (MBSR+SEI) may yield promise in the treatment of stress-related eating.
Relationships are one of the most crucial parts of life and a highly studied subject in psychology. Yet psychologists still have difficulty explaining how to help people gain and maintain close, positive relationships. The present study aims to investigate whether an existing intrapersonal health strategy, meditation, can also help interpersonal health. Specifically, psychological and neurobiological evidence suggests that compassion mediation in particular may be particularly relevant to close relationships. Based on evidence suggesting that compassion – the desire to free others from suffering – is strongly related to relationship quality, it is hypothesized that the cultivation of compassion through meditation will enhance self-reported relationship quality. Furthermore, it is hypothesized that interpersonal (i.e., compassion, empathy, and forgiveness) and intrapersonal (i.e., emotion regulation and coping) variables will mediate the relationship between compassion meditation and relationship quality.