Just like fireworks in my brain – a Swedish interview study on experiences of emotions in female patients with eating disorders

Journal of Eating Disorders

Kent-Inge Perseius¹  Suzanne Petersson²  Lydia Gullbing³ 

[1] Department of Caring Science, Linnaeus University, SE-39182, Kalmar, Sweden;Department of Medicine and Optometry, Linnaeus University, Länssjukhuset, Hus 13, plan 7, SE-391 85, Kalmar, Sweden;Division of Rehabilitation, Region Kalmar County, Länssjukhuset, Hus 13, Plan 7, SE-391 85, Kalmar, Sweden;Division of Psychiatry, Region Kalmar County, SE-391 85 Kalmar, Sweden;

关键词: Eating disorders;    Emotion regulation;    Qualitative interview;    Thematic analysis;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s40337-021-00371-2

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundPatients with eating disorders have reported poorer emotional awareness, more emotional suppression, less use of adaptive emotional regulation strategies, and more use of maladaptive emotional regulation strategies compared to people in healthy control groups.AimTo explore experiences of emotions by a transdiagnostic sample of patients with eating disorders.MethodNine patients with different eating disorder diagnoses at an eating disorder outpatient clinic in Sweden were interviewed for their thoughts on emotions. The interviews were analyzed with Thematic Analysis.ResultFour themes were constructed: “Not knowing what one feels”, “Switch off, run away, or hide behind a mask”, “Emotions in a lifelong perspective”, and “Using eating behaviours to regulate emotions”. The patients described uncertainty regarding whether they experienced emotions correctly. They described how they tried to avoid difficult emotions through suppressive strategies and eating disorder behaviour. All described strategies were inefficient and all emotions were experienced as problematic, even joy. Since joy was used as a mask, the real experience of happiness was lost and mourned.ConclusionAll kinds of emotions were considered problematic to experience, but shame, fear, and sadness were considered worst. It is difficult to know if the emotional difficulties preceded an eating disorder, however such difficulties may have increased as a result of the eating disorder.

【 授权许可】

CC BY