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Counseling Psychology and Psychotherapy
2025. Vol. 33, no. 4, 135–154
doi:10.17759/cpp.2025330407
ISSN: 2075-3470 / 2311-9446 (online)

Communication dysfunctions in the parental family as a factor in eating disorders and emotional self-regulation in adults suffering from obesity

 
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Abstract

Context and relevance. Obesity is a non—communicable epidemic of the 21st century, gaining momentum among both children and adults in all countries. Studying the social and psychological factors of obesity is one of the key ways to increase the effectiveness of obesity prevention and treatment. Goal. To evaluate the influence of communicative dysfunctions in the parental family of obese patients on the formation of eating disorders. Hypothesis. Communicative dysfunctions in the parental family contribute to the emergence of emotional eating disorders as a strategy for coping with stress. Methods and materials. The study involved 38 patients aged 18 to 59 years (M = 33,4; SD = 12,3) with an established diagnosis of obesity (BMI from 30,0 to 55,5, M = 37,4, SD = 7,2), 24 of them were women, 14 were men. The following methods were used in the study: The Family Emotional Communication Questionnaire (SEC; A.B. Kholmogorova, S.V. Volikova, M.G.Sorokova, 2016); The Dutch Eating Behavior Questionnaire (DEBQ, T. van Strien, 1986); The Beck Depression Inventory (BDI, A. T. Beck, 1961); The Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20, G. J. Taylor, 1985) and a diagnostic interview with respondents. Results. The results confirmed the hypothesis of the tendency of obese patients to an emotionogenic type of eating disorders and the contribution of communicative dysfunctions in the family to these disorders. High rates of depressive symptoms were recorded, as well as obese respondents having problems recognizing their own feelings. Conclusions. It is shown that it is necessary to further study the family factors of eating disorders according to the emotionogenic type, which can contribute to the prevention of obesity through psychotherapy of parents, teachers and health professionals, as well as to improve comprehensive programs of care for obese patients and their families.

General Information

Keywords: obesity, depression, alexithymia, eating disorders, emotional self-regulation, family communication dysfunctions

Journal rubric: Empirical Researches

Article type: scientific article

DOI: https://doi.org/10.17759/cpp.2025330407

Funding. The work was performed within the framework of the research work: «Mechanisms of development of “the plateau” effect after weight loss and obesity relapse in children and adults: adaptive thermogenesis, myokine profile, eating behavior, metabolic, nutritional, and proinflammatory markers» (NIOCTR 1023022400038-1).

Received 16.10.2025

Revised 25.11.2025

Accepted

Published

For citation: Flitman, E.D., Kholmogorova, A.B., Vasyukova, O.V., Yakubova, L.N. (2025). Communication dysfunctions in the parental family as a factor in eating disorders and emotional self-regulation in adults suffering from obesity. Counseling Psychology and Psychotherapy, 33(4), 135–154. (In Russ.). https://doi.org/10.17759/cpp.2025330407

© Flitman E.D., Kholmogorova A.B., Vasyukova O.V., Yakubova L.N., 2025

License: CC BY-NC 4.0

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Information About the Authors

Ekaterina D. Flitman, clinical psychologist, Endocrinology Research Centre, Moscow, Russian Federation, ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0004-2732-3472, e-mail: flitman.ekaterina@endocrincentr.ru

Alla B. Kholmogorova, Doctor of Psychology, Professor, Dean of the Faculty of Counseling and Clinical Psychology, Moscow State University of psychology and education, Leading Researcher of the Department of Acute Poisoning and Somatopsychiatric Disorders, N.V. Sklifosovsky Research Institute for Emergency Medicine, Moscow, Russian Federation, ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5194-0199, e-mail: kholmogorova@yandex.ru

Olga V. Vasyukova, Candidate of Science (Medicine), Head of the Center for Treatment and Prevention of Metabolic Diseases and Obesity, Leading Researcher, Associate Professor of the Department of Pediatric Endocrinology-Diabetology of the Institute of Pediatric Endocrinology and Diabetology, Endocrinology Research Centre, Moscow, Russian Federation, ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9299-1053, e-mail: o.vasyukova@mail.ru

Liliya N. Yakubova, clinical psychologist, Endocrinology Research Centre, Moscow, Russian Federation, ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0007-0765-9712, e-mail: Lili.yakubova@gmail.com

Contribution of the authors

Flitman E.D. — conducting the research; writing and formatting the manuscript; statistical processing, visualization, and presentation of the research materials.

Kholmogorova A.B. — developing the methodological framework and research design; editing the text.

Vasyukova O.V. — assisting in the organization and conduct of the research, and describing the anthropometric data.

Yakubova L.N. — participating in the processing of the materials and writing the introduction.

All authors participated in the discussion of the results and agreed on the final manuscript.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Ethics statement

The study protocol was approved on 03/13/2024 by the local Ethics Committee at the Endocrinology Research Centre (extract from Protocol No. 5 dated 03/13/2024)

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