Emotion and Eating in Obesity: A Review of the Literature

Do emotions influence the eating patterns of obese individuals? This paper reviews 30 years of clinical and experimental research in order to answer this question. The result is a picture of considerable complexity in which emotions appear to influence eating by obese subjects, but only if individual variability and several qualities of emotional eating are considered. That is, unlike Kaplan and Kaplan's (1957) simplistic anxiety-reduction model, current research indicates that individual differences in food choice and in type of emotion precipitating eating need to be considered. In addition, secrecy surrounding the eating and an episodic quality related to overall level of stress need to be taken into consideration. When these parameters are included, it appears that in certain emotional situations obese people eat more than normal-weight individuals. Such eating appears to have an affect-reducing effect, especially for negative emotions such as anger, loneliness, boredom, and depression. Problems with current research including methodological shortcomings are discussed.