When Implemented During the Recovery Phase, Can Mindful Eating and/or Intuitive Eating Reduce the Symptomatology of Eating Disorders?

Abstract

Objectives: This review aims to determine the effect of mindful eating (ME) and intuitive eating (IE) interventions during recovery on the symptomatology of eating disorders (EDs), including anorexia nervosa (AN), bulimia nervosa (BN), binge eating disorder (BED), and eating disorder not otherwise specified (EDNOS). Methods: Peer-reviewed research articles were obtained from Medline, Academic Search Ultimate, APA PsycArticles, APA PsycInfo, ERIC, Science Reference Center, and CINAHL Complete between 2000 and 2020. Searches were conducted using Boolean operators to combine keywords and multiple variants of each word. The initial search resulted in 584 articles. After duplicates were removed and abstracts reviewed, 55 articles were read in full, nine of which were deemed appropriate for this review. An additional source was found through searching reference pages, authors' names, and Google Scholar. A total of ten studies examining the effect of an IE or ME treatment on clinically diagnosed AN, BN, BED or EDNOS were included. Results: Ten studies met the inclusion criteria. Three cross-sectional studies that observed the association between IE and the presence of an ED or recovery found IE to be negatively correlated with ED symptomatology (p < 0.001). Additionally, two experimental studies that used IE as the treatment found a significant reduction in ED symptomatology (p < 0.001) and significant increases in IE-scale scores from pre-to post-treatment (p < 0.001). Another two experimental studies found using ME as the treatment resulted in a significant reduction of ED symptomatology (p < 0.001). Finally, three studies that included IE or ME as part of a larger intervention, but not as an independent treatment, showed a reduction in ED symptomatology (p < 0.01). Conclusions: Due to the cross-sectional and experimental nature of the study designs included in this review, more research is needed to conclude that IE or ME can reduce ED symptomatology. However, these articles present promising preliminary results to suggest that IE and ME can be an important part of an effective ED recovery both as an independent treatment or as part of a larger intervention.