Radically open DBT: Targeting emotional loneliness in Anorexia Nervosa

This article conceptualizes Anorexia Nervosa (AN) as a prototypical overcontrolled disorder, characterized by low receptivity and openness, low flexible control, pervasive inhibited emotional expressiveness, low emotional awareness, and low social connectedness and intimacy with others. As a result,...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Eating disorders 2018-01, Vol.26 (1), p.92-104
Main Authors: Hempel, Roelie, Vanderbleek, Emily, Lynch, Thomas R.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Anorexia
Behavior modification
Brain
Connectedness
Facial expressions
Gestures
Intimacy
Loneliness
Negative emotions
Openness
Posture
Psychological well being
Receptivity
Safety regulations
Social skills
Starvation
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Summary:This article conceptualizes Anorexia Nervosa (AN) as a prototypical overcontrolled disorder, characterized by low receptivity and openness, low flexible control, pervasive inhibited emotional expressiveness, low emotional awareness, and low social connectedness and intimacy with others. As a result, individuals with AN often report high levels of emotional loneliness. A new evidence-based treatment, Radically Open Dialectical Behavior Therapy (RO-DBT), and its underlying neuroregulatory theory, offer a novel way of understanding how self-starvation and social signaling deficits are used as maladaptive regulation strategies to reduce negative affect. RO-DBT proposes that rather than trying to be 'emotionally regulated' or achieving equanimity, long-term psychological well-being is achieved by increasing social connectedness. RO-DBT skills, including body posture, gestures, and facial expressions, activate brain regions that increase social safety responses that function to automatically enhance the open-minded and flexible social-signaling, which are crucial for establishing long-term intimate bonds with others and becoming part of a "tribe."
ISSN:1064-0266
1532-530X
DOI:10.1080/10640266.2018.1418268