Mental-Based Cognitive Therapy on Increasing Consciousness of Self-Body Multi-dimensional Relationships in People with Obesity

Nowadays, obesity has become one of the serious health problems in the world as well as in Iran and has increased dramatically over the past years. According to reports, the prevalence of obesity is raising.One of the variables that is closely related to obesity is the body image. The body image is the same as our mental image of the physical appearance of our attitudes and feelings about it. The body image represents the concept that a person has from his body and is the most important part of the person's own imagination, since the physical appearance of the individual is the first part of the body that to be judged in dealing with another. On the other hand, one of the important criteria is mental health, satisfaction of physical body image and positive attitude toward the body. Several psychological interventions have been used to reduce obesity and to modify the body image. In the present study, mindfulness–based cognitive therapy applied. Mindfulness or the presence of mind means awareness of thoughts, behaviors, emotions and motivations so that we can better manage and regulate them. The aim of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of mindfulness–based cognitive therapy on body image in obese individuals.

The present study was conducted as a semi–experimental method with two groups (pretest–posttest) and a three–month follow–up period with the control group. The statistical population of the study was obese with over 30 BMI in Karaj (Alborz province, North of Itan) that were selected according to availability method. As regards the fallout, 60 individuals were considered as a statistical sample (30 in each group), which were randomly assigned to experimental and control groups according to the following entry conditions. The multidimensional body–self relations questionnaire (Cash, 2000) was used to evaluate the pre–test, post–test and follow–up period. This tool contains 46 questions, which has a good reliability and validity. The experimental group received mindfulness–based cognitive therapy (8 sessions, 90 minutes), while the control group did not receive any interventions. Data analyzed by repeated measure ANOVA using SPSS22 software.

The mean and standard deviation (SD) age of the experimental and control group was 29.9 (5.72) and 30.99 (5.72), respectively. Descriptive results showed that the average of the body image in the experimental group at pre–test, post–test and follow–up times was 10.23, 16.61, 16.66, respectively. Inferential findings showed that mindfulness–based cognitive therapy has a significant effect on the body image of obese people (p<0.05). The reported effect size was 0.52. In addition, the LSD test showed that the average change in body image was significantly higher in the experimental group than in the control group (p<0.05). 

According to research findings, mindfulness–based cognitive therapy has effective mechanisms for modifying the body image of obese individuals. In addition, this treatment has long–term effects.