A preliminary investigation of the relationship between dispositional mindfulness and eating disorder symptoms among men in residential substance use treatment

Abstract

The comorbidity between eating disorders (EDs) and substance use disorders (SUDs) is of particular concern given the high rates of mortality, relapse and poor treatment outcomes associated with both disorders. As a result, there has been a growing impetus within the field to elucidate factors that might influence and aid treatment for this comorbidity. One such factor is dispositional mindfulness, as past literature has demonstrated a significant relationship between mindfulness and both EDs and SUDs. However, we are unaware of any research that has examined the relationship between dispositional mindfulness and ED symptoms in a sample of men in residential treatment for SUDs. Medical records from 152 men were included in the current study. Alcohol and drug use and problems, ED symptoms and dispositional mindfulness were assessed with self-report measures. Hierarchical regression analysis indicated that dispositional mindfulness was inversely related to ED symptoms after controlling for alcohol use, drug use and age. Although results are preliminary and continued research in this area is needed, our findings suggest that there may be potential usefulness in targeting and enhancing mindfulness among patients in residential treatment for SUDs with cooccurring psychiatric symptoms (e.g., EDs).

Keywords:

• Eating disorders
• dispositional mindfulness
• substance use disorders
• bulimia nervosa
• binge-eating disorder
• residential treatment

Disclosure statement

Gregory Stuart started conducting psychoeducational treatment groups for patients at Cornerstone of Recovery for a maximum of 4 h per week. None of this research project pertains to any of the psychoeducational groups. Dr. Stuart does not ever do any study recruitment, is not informed which patients do or do not participate in research, and does not mention anything about research to the patients attending groups.

Ryan Shorey started working as a research consultant at Cornerstone. There is no restriction on what Ryan can publish and his research consultation does not influence the study results in any way. Ryan does not interact with Cornerstone patients. Ryan has reported all of his consultation activities to Ohio University and no concern about financial conflict of interest has been raised.

Funding information

This work was supported, in part, by grant K24AA019707 from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) awarded to the last author. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the NIAAA or the National Institutes of Health.