Mindfulness meditation helps people with anorexia reduce obsessive thoughts about self-image.
- Anorexia most often appears between the ages of 14 and 17. It mainly affects women.
- 50% of patients treated in adolescence recover.
- According to INSERM, two thirds of patients are cured after 5 years of evolution. Beyond this period, we speak of chronic anorexia nervosa.
“You are too fat”, “you still need to lose weight”, “you ate too much”…here is some of the obsessive thoughts that anorexics can see occurring throughout the day. Their eating disorder, which is characterized by a drastic restriction of calories consumed and significant weight loss, prevents them from recognizing the seriousness of their thinness and their state of health.
Mindfulness meditation could bring them relief, according to a study from Kyoto University Hospital. It would reduce obsessive thoughts about self-image.
Mindfulness meditation reduces obsessive thoughts
For this research, the Japanese team followed 21 anorexic patients. They followed a 4-week mindfulness meditation initiation program promoting acceptance of the situation and the present. Next, participants were asked to perform tasks designed to induce weight-related anxiety. Their neuronal activities were then measured by functional magnetic resonance imaging. During the exam, the researchers asked the volunteers to regulate their anxiety with the mindfulness meditation exercises learned.
They observed a significant decrease in obsessive thoughts about self-image. “Our results suggest that study participants are more accepting of their anxiety as it is”explained lead author Tomomi Noda in a communicated.
Anorexia: mindfulness influences brain activity
MRI results show that mindfulness meditation also affects brain activity in areas associated with obsessive thoughts.
The researchers specified in their article published in BJPsych Open February 2, 2023: “Our results showed reduced activity in the amygdala, anterior cingulate cortex, putamen, caudate nucleus, orbital gyrus, middle frontal gyrus, posterior cingulate cortex, and precuneus following mindfulness-based intervention. .” They believe that their work provides “new insights into the neural mechanisms underlying the effect of mindfulness-based intervention in improving anorexia nervosa”.
“We anticipate practical implications of our results in clinical psychiatry and psychology and broader research on the alleviation of suffering through mindfulness, using the strategy of self-acceptance to regulate attention”concludes the leader of the team, Toshiya Murai.
