According to a recent article in Clinical Psychology & Psychotherapy, individuals with eating disorders often experience a negative inner voice that critiques their weight and eating habits. The researchers found that this voice, which can feel like it belongs to a separate person, tends to decrease in severity, hostility, and perceived power throughout psychotherapeutic treatment.
This study, headed by Ludovica Natali from the University of Padova, additionally finds that reductions in the eating disorder voice’s malevolence and omnipotence often coincide with a reduction of some symptoms.
The authors report:
“Over time, patients reported lower levels of eating and weight concern (small effect size), shape concern (large effect size), and anxiety (small effect size). They also reported a reduction in the severity, perceived malevolence (medium effect size), and omnipotence (small effect size) of the eating disorder voice. Greater severity and malevolence of the voice, and lower benevolence at baseline predicted greater reductions in eating disorder symptoms (i.e., restraint and shape concern).”