Bulimics' responses to food cravings: is binge-eating a product of hunger of emotional state?

Waters, Anne, Hill, Andrew and Waller, Glenn (2001) Bulimics' responses to food cravings: is binge-eating a product of hunger of emotional state? Behaviour Research and Therapy, 39 (8), 877-886. (doi:10.1016/S0005-7967(00)00059-0).

Abstract

This study examined the roles of hunger, food craving and mood in the binge-eating episodes of bulimic patients, and identified the critical factors involved in the processes surrounding binge-eating episodes that follow cravings. This was a prospective study of the binge-eating behaviour of 15 women with bulimia nervosa. The participants used food intake diaries and Craving Records to self-monitor their nutritional behaviour, hunger levels and affective state. Cravings leading to a binge were associated with higher tension, lower mood and lower hunger than those cravings not leading to a binge. Levels of tension and hunger were the critical discriminating variables. The findings of the study support empirical evidence and models of emotional blocking in binge-eating behaviour and challenge the current cognitive starve–binge models of bulimia. The role of food cravings in the emotional blocking model is discussed in terms of a classically conditioned motivational state. Implications for treatment are addressed.

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