Stress and eating – is there a connection?
The clinic for psychsomatic medicine and psychotherapy at the Univerity hospital Leipzig researches about stress and emotional eating.
Nearly everybody knows the temptation to eat a chocolate bar on a stressful day. Also it is very well-known that eating seems to help when you are disappointed, sad, or bugged. Besides the feeling of hunger there are obviously many other important factors, which influence our eating behavior.
The hospital for psychosomatic medicine and psychotherapy at the University Hospital Leipzig conducts a research project about stress and emotional eating. This research will contribute to the long-term improvement and development of new prevention and therapy programs for obese patients. There more doctors know about eating behaviors, the more specific treatments for obese patients will improve.
Prof. Anette Kersting’s team of researchers is looking for participants, who are willing to fill out anonymous online questionnaires. The only requirement for the participation is the minimum age of 18 years. One does not have to be obese or overweight to participate in the study. The participants have a big share in the understanding of the influence of incriminatory childhood experiences (like disregard, violence, etc.) on the way adults experience and cope with stress and on their eating behaviors. The scientists try to understand, whether overweight and adipose people who had negative childhood experiences react differently to stress and whether this influences their eating behaviors.
The participation in the study is voluntary. The participants can cancel filling out the questionnaires any time without giving reasons or having any negative effect. There are different online-questionnaires on different topics like eating behaviour, stress experiences, psychological strains and on life crises. The filling out takes about 45 minutes. All the data will be coded, stored anonymously and analyzed.
Also the IFB AdiposityDiseases researches the different influences on the eating behaviors. Scientists examine e. g. neuronal transmitters in the brain, special hormones and brain functions.
If you are interested in participate at the online-questioning, you find more information on the website of the psychosomatic research department and on facebook. The direct way you find here.
For Questions please contact:
Dr. rer. med. Dipl. -Psych. Juliane Kuhn
phone: 0341 97 18953
e-mail: juliane [dot] kuhn [at] medizin [dot] uni-leipzig [dot] de
Clinic and poly clinic for psychosomatic medicine and psychotherapy, Leipzig
Key words: psyche, eating disorder