Are your emotions affecting your weight?

8 July 2009

For some, weight is a suit of armour to keep emotions at arms’ length.

We look at weight gain as a defensive reaction and how to break free.

How we deal with emotions
Weight Watchers US-based Chief Scientific Officer Karen Miller-Kovach suggests that for some, our past experiences can be a heavy load to carry. “The trauma of a childhood experience has certainly been linked with self-destructive behaviour,” she says.

“Some people drink, others turn to drugs, while others turn to food. Of course, it’s also important to remember that not everyone’s weight gain has an emotional cause or basis, but for those that do, the links can not only be very strong, they can also be hard to uncover and recognise.”

Breaking the code
So if this is happening on a subconscious level, just how easy is it to make the connection between what is going on inside your head and how it might be affecting your attempts to lose weight?

“That is definitely part of the problem,” says Sydney psychologist Craig Forbes. “To have some insight into what, if any, role your past experiences may be contributing, you first have to get past the security system that is your subconscious, and that can be hard. That’s because on some level it is there to act as a defence mechanism, so it will require being willing to drop that, looking at some old stuff and potentially experiencing some pain.”

And according to Forbes, even with a counsellor or psychologist’s help, if you’re not ready to “go there” it could be a fruitless exercise. “A person has to want to look beyond the superficial and must be at the point where they have a level of awareness. It’s like anything that is potentially painful or difficult – if someone’s not truly ready to do it for themselves they may have only limited success.”

The missing link
Miller-Kovach says that in cases where weight is purely a visible result of what is happening inside, making the link is crucial if long-term weight loss is the goal. “This point is increasingly being recognised as the result of bariatric, or gastric bypass, surgery. Several studies suggest that when people with emotional trauma have the surgery without being treated for the underlying issues that caused the weight gain in the first place, they are much more likely to either regain the weight – despite the physical limitations of the operation – or develop other problems such as alcohol or drug abuse when the food route is cut off.”

Supporting Miller-Kovach is a study out of Brown University in the US. Researchers found that, compared to people who over-eat because of external influences, emotional eaters – people who eat because of internal influences like emotions and feelings – tend to lose the least amount of weight and have difficulty keeping it off after a weight-loss program.

Desperately seeking solutions
If you suspect your own weight gain or struggle to achieve long-term weight loss could be related to an unresolved emotional issue or experience, Craig Forbes says that reading about “emotional eating” to gain some insight can be a good place to start. “Weight-loss programs that offer counselling or regular meetings can also be valuable, as opposed to programs that just deliver a ‘meal in a box’ and leave you to your own devices.”

If you do decide you’d like to see a counsellor or psychologist, Forbes advises: “Make sure they have expertise in this area, and also ask what approaches and therapy styles they use so you can make sure you’re comfortable with them from the onset.” To find a psychologist in your area, contact the Australian Psychological Society on 1800 333 497, or visit www.psychology.org.au