Obesity and Mindful Eating in Patients With Anxiety

Background: Obesity is chronic disease with high prevalence rates, functional disability and difficult long-term management. Anxiety is one of the most common psychological disorders in obesity, and when associated with other factors such as emotional eating and emotional dysregulation, it impairs treatment and interferes with lifestyle changes. Finding an intervention that improves the eating behavior of these patients and facilitates adherence to obesity treatment, associated with less emotional distress, is of great clinical interest. Objective: The aim of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of the Mindful Eating (ME) intervention on neurocognitive and behavioral outcomes in patients with obesity and anxiety compared to the control group with exposure to videos promoting quality of life. Methods: A five-weeks randomized clinical trial will be performed with 52 patients in adulthood. The Mindful Eating intervention group will receive an online protocol with one meeting per week. This is a protocol that has been adapted for five weeks and consists of a group intervention with 10-15 participants. Mindfulness, Mindful Eating and Self-Compassion training will be based on the Eat for Life protocol. The control group will receive five videos of psychoeducation, one topic per week. After, all participants will receive lifestyle advices, a first-line "treatment-as-usual" to obesity. There will be a face-to-face assessment with anthropometric, behavioral and biological measurements pre and post-intervention. The outcomes may help in understanding the mechanisms underlying the change in eating behavior, in order to direct new therapeutic strategies for the treatment of anxiety and obesity comorbidities.