Mind-Body Connection, Self-Esteem, and Social Support as Predictors of Recovery From Anorexia Nervosa
Abstract
Eating disorders (EDs) remain difficult to treat and anorexia nervosa (AN) is the most lethal psychiatric disorder. There is not a standardized definition of ED recovery among researchers or practitioners, but a holistic approach that evaluates physical, psychological, cognitive, and behavioral aspects of recovery is recommended. Social support and self-esteem have been established as factors that contribute to the development, maintenance, and recovery from EDs. Mind-body connection is an understudied variable in relation to ED recovery, but emerging research has linked improvements in mind-body connection to improvements in body image, body satisfaction, and decreased ED pathology. This study explored the relationships among self-esteem, social support, mind-body connection, and eating disorder recovery in 137 women aged 18 to 39 with a diagnosis of AN. Correlational analyses were run to examine the relationship between all variables and several hierarchical regression analyses were run to determine if additional variance in recovery would be explained with the addition of a mind-body connection measure. Results indicated that body dissociation, but not body awareness, was correlated with recovery and mind-body connection did not add to the variance in ED recovery. Implications, study limitations, and directions for future research are discussed.
Subject Area
Counseling Psychology|Mental health|Clinical psychology
Recommended Citation
Syper, Amy, "Mind-Body Connection, Self-Esteem, and Social Support as Predictors of Recovery From Anorexia Nervosa" (2023). ETD Collection for Fordham University. AAI30572998.
https://research.library.fordham.edu/dissertations/AAI30572998
