Expressive suppression mediates the relation between disordered eating and suicidal ideation

Abstract

Objective Although disordered eating is robustly associated with suicidal thoughts, it is not well understood why these conditions relate to each other. Emotion dysregulation is a shared risk factor for disordered eating and suicidal thoughts. Individuals with dysregulated emotions struggle to select appropriate strategies to modulate emotions and the strategies they use might explain some of the shared variances. Thus, we examined whether emotion regulation strategies mediated the relationship between disordered eating and suicidal ideation. Method Adult participants (N = 230) completed questionnaires on current disordered eating symptoms, emotion regulation strategies, and current suicidal ideation. Results Disordered eating symptoms positively associated with suicidal ideation. In addition, expressive suppression mediated the relation between disordered eating symptoms and current suicidal ideation. No relation was found for cognitive reappraisal. Conclusions The use of expressive suppression as an emotion regulation strategy may be related to increased suicidal ideation in individuals who express concerns about eating.

Emotion regulation strategies modulate the effect of adverse childhood experiences on perceived chronic stress with implications for cognitive flexibility

“…There are some studies that indicate that the cost of suppression is dependent on factors such as how burdensome [21] or inauthentic [22] it feels to suppress one's feeling. Regardless, suppression is viewed overall as a costly emotion regulation strategy that is associated with negative health outcomes [23,24].…”

Correlates of suicidal thoughts and attempts in males engaging in muscle dysmorphia or eating disorder symptoms

“…Failure to adhere to exercise and diet regimens typically result in intense anxiety and guilt, and immediate attempts at compensation, including extra workout sessions, stricter dieting, or purging behaviors (Mangwetheth et al, 2001). Notably, research has found compulsive exercise is related to attempting suicide while eating concerns and purging behavior may increase risk for suicidal ideation (Ortiz et al, 2019; Portzky et al, 2014; Selbyy et al, 2010; Smithh et al, 2013). In sum, these shared symptoms that are found to increase risk of suicidality in BDD and EDs may similarly increase suicide risk in MD.…”

The role of cognitive flexibility in self-injurious thoughts and behaviors: A systematic review.

“…In contrast, cross-sectional studies found no significant association between TCQ-R scores and an SI history (Titus & DeShong, 2020), even when modifying the items to focus on suicidal thoughts (e.g., “I analyze whether ending my life is rational”; Tucker et al, 2017, p. 39). Similarly, ERQ-R scores were not significantly associated with an SI history (Brausch et al, 2022; Forkmann et al, 2014; Ortiz et al, 2019) and did not predict daily SI severity over the course of 28 days (Franz et al, 2021). Therefore, state and trait-like cognitive reappraisal appear to have differential associations with SI severity.…”