Grabbing a pint of ice cream and digging in because of a breakup has become so cliché, it’s a common romance movie scene. But for some people, especially if loneliness and isolation affects their lives, turning to food to soothe their emotions can become an all-too-common and real problem.
It’s an issue Elizabeth Chamberlain, PhD, sees more frequently in her office at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, given the scope of today’s loneliness problem. In May of 2023, the U.S. Surgeon General called recent trends in social isolation a “public health crisis.”
Did you know: Loneliness and social isolation increase the risk for premature death by 26% and 29% respectively, according to an extensive report by the U.S. Surgeon General?
Chamberlain, assistant professor and faculty wellness officer in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, and psychologist in the CU Medicine Weight Management and Wellness Clinic, works at the intersection of emotional eating and loneliness. In the following Q&A, she details the connections emotional eating and loneliness have through habit formation, why halting emotional eating has no connection to willpower and how she helps patients deal with loneliness.