I dunno why the formatting is funny....I guess APA format doesn't translate to blog :)

Classically Conditioned Emotional Eating: Why my emotions make me hungry

For as long as I can remember, all of my emotions have been quelled or rewarded with food. If I got an “A” on a test, I got a cookie, if I stubbed my toe, I got a cookie, if my sister picked on me, I got a cookie, if I had a nightmare and couldn’t get back to sleep, I got warm milk and a cookie. I learned to use food as a self-soothing tool from a very young age. This trained emotional eating led me through some devastating cycles both physically and mentally. Through constantly reframing the way I see and deal with my emotions, I am learning to overcome this conditioning.

Classical Conditioning and Behavior

Behaviorism is a school of thought in psychology that assumes that learning occurs through interactions with the environment. Two other assumptions of this theory are that the environment shapes behavior and that taking internal mental processes such as thoughts, feelings, and emotions into consideration is useless in explaining behavior.

One of the best-known aspects of behavioral learning theory is classical conditioning. Discovered by Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov, classical conditioning is a learning process that occurs through associations between an environmental stimulus and a naturally occurring stimulus. In my example I will show how through association, my emotions are tied to food. To understand the process of Classical Conditioning, the concepts of stimulus and response must first be understood.

An unconditioned stimulus (US) is a stimulus that naturally triggers a response and an unconditioned response (UR) is a natural response to a stimulus, such as salivating when food is in the mouth. Classical conditioning uses these naturally occurring behaviors to train new behaviors. A conditioned response (CR) is a learned behavior triggered by a previously neutral stimulus that becomes the conditioned stimulus (CS) (Myers, 2007, p.316). 

Self-Care through Food

Psychosomatic theories hold that the obese abnormally increase eating in response to emotional distress (Allison & Heskha, 1993, p. 285). I learned at a young age to associate emotional distress with increased eating. The originally neutral stimulus, an emotional response or feeling, was gradually connected with food, usually sweets in order to help me cope with the feeling. I remember vividly a day when I stubbed my toe quite badly at the age of five. I was riding my big wheel without shoes and scraped my big toe on the sidewalk. In addition to the pain I felt from the injury, I was also quite scared at the appearance of my toe and the amount of blood coming from it. My father immediately scooped me up and brought me inside where my mother proceeded to clean and dress my wound. Still a bit shaken from the experience and finding it hard to catch my breath, my father opened the cookie jar and handed me two Oreo cookies, one for each hand and told me they would make me feel better. Naturally, at the age of five, I already had an affinity for Oreo cookies (US) and the taste of the sweetness of the cookie made me smile (UR).

This type of reward system happened quite often through my elementary years. Not only would I be encouraged to be happy through food with comments like, “I don’t like to see you cry, here have a cookie and you will feel better,” but also through seeing other members of my family soothe and reward themselves with food. It wasn’t long before my use of food to soothe or reward myself was generalized across all of my feelings and this carried well into my adult life. If I was mad at my husband (CS) I would need something sweet to eat to help me calm down (CR). 

Reframing my Coping Skills

Negative affect substantially influences self-perceptions in terms of emotional eating, which is relevant for both prevention and treatment (Bekker, van der Meerendonk, & Mollerus, 2004, p. 461). Even when I rewarded a “good” feeling, such as being proud of an accomplishment, with food I had a negative self-image because of the weight I carried. In order to be healthier both physically and mentally, I had to bring the conditioning of my youth to extinction. Extinction occurs when an unconditioned stimulus does not follow a conditioned stimulus (Myers, 319) therefore I had to find other ways to cope with my feelings and ignore my desires to mindlessly munch on sweets. Realizing the end result I wanted was to feel comforted, I chose different responses such as asking for a hug, wrapping up tightly in a warm blanket or soaking in a warm bath. Sometimes I had to physically remove myself from available food or call a friend to “talk me down” from my craving to eat. Over the years I have been able to reduce the desire to turn to food when experiencing negative emotions. I still do, however, have trouble finding ways to acknowledge feelings of pride and self worth and am still working on those feelings and the responses they elicit.

Conclusion

Growing up classically conditioned to deal with my emotions through food put me in a depressed state mentally and physically. Through understanding how my emotional behavior is a learned behavior, I continue to work towards extinction of this behavior. I still can’t keep a bag of Oreos in the house, but I’ve definitely come a long way!

References

Allison, D., & Heshka, S. (1993, April). Emotion and Eating in Obesity? A Critical Analysis. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 13(3), 289-295. Retrieved January 15, 2009, from Academic Search Premier database.

Balfour, L. (1997, January). Examining how avoidant coping and anger suppression relate to emotional eating in young women. Retrieved January 17, 2009, from PsycINFO database.

Bekker, M., van de Meerendonk, C., & Mollerus, J. (2004, December). Effects of Negative Mood Induction and Impulsivity on Self-Perceived Emotional Eating. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 36(4), 461-469. Retrieved January 17, 2009, from EBSCOHOST database.

Myers, D. G. (2007) General Psychology II: Applied Psychologies: PSY 202 Belhaven College (Chapter 8, pp. 313-326) New York: Worth Custom Publishing