Emotional dysregulation and eating symptoms in gender dysphoria and eating disorders: the mediating role of body uneasiness

Abstract

Emotional dysregulation is a key transdiagnostic dimension of several clinical conditions, including eating disorders (EDs) and gender dysphoria (GD). Not only is there frequent comorbidity between EDs and GD, but GD individuals also commonly experience ED symptoms and body-image disturbances. However, more research is needed to understand how specific body-related experiences may differently interact with difficulties in emotion regulation and dysfunctional eating behaviors in EDs and GD. Thus, the present study aimed at exploring potential associations between emotional dysregulation and ED symptomatology in individuals diagnosed with anorexia nervosa (AN), bulimia nervosa (BN), or gender dysphoria (GD), also considering the mediating role of specific dimensions of body uneasiness. A national sample of N = 96 help-seekers assigned female at birth (n = 32 with AN, n = 32 with BN, n = 32 with GD) was recruited from two specialized care centers. Participants completed the Eating Disorder Inventory-3 (EDI-3) and the Body Uneasiness Test (BUT), while the Shedler-Westen Assessment Procedure–200 (SWAP-200) was used to evaluate emotional dysregulation. Findings showed that several body uneasiness dimensions mediated the relationship between emotional dysregulation and ED symptoms, in both AN-BN and GD participants. In GD individuals, body avoidance emerged as a significant mediator of the relationship between emotional dysregulation and ED symptoms, whereas in both AN-BN patients and GD individuals, depersonalization toward the body emerged as a significant mediator. The results suggest that the interplay between emotional dysregulation, body uneasiness, and ED symptoms may be crucial for the development of comprehensive and tailored prevention strategies.

Direct and indirect effects of psychological well-being and therapeutic alliance on therapy outcome in eating disorders

“…Furthermore, despite patients were asked to evaluate the perceived therapeutic alliance referring to clinicians who were providing individual psychotherapy, the multidisciplinary nature of the overall therapeutic approach may still represent a potential confounding variable (Elran-Barak et al, 2024). Second, the study only included White assigned females at birth, which limits the generalizability of the findings to assigned males, minority demographic populations, and individuals with other gender identities (e.g., Mirabella et al, 2024). Third, the present study only relied on self-report measures, which may be susceptible to response bias.…”