Effectiveness of Neuro Linguistic Programming Method on Eating Attitudeand Mental Health of Overweight People

The most common eating disorder is overeating which is seen in obese or overweight people. Overweight people have problems with eating habits and mental health, and there are little evidence of the effectiveness of neuro- linguistic programming (NLP) interventions in improving healthrelated outcomes. The present study was conducted to determine the effectiveness of NLP method on eating attitude and mental health of overweight people.

This quasi-experimental study was a pre-test, post-test and 3-month follow-up with a control group. The study population was overweight people referring to nutrition clinics and health centers in Dehdasht, Iran in 2019. Based on inclusion criteria, 24 people were selected by purposive sampling method and randomly allocated in two equal groups. The experimental group received 10 two-hour sessions for five weeks of NLP training and the control group did not receive training. Data were collected using the Eating Attitudes Test (EAT-26) and Depression Anxiety Stress Scales (DASS-21).

There was no significant difference between experimental and control groups in terms of gender, marriage, education and employment (P> 0.05). In addition, there was no significant difference between the groups in the pre-test stage in terms of eating attitude and mental health (P> 0.05), but in the post-test and follow-up phases, a significant difference was recorded in terms of both variables (P <0.05). Also, the NLP method compared to the control group improved the eating attitude and mental health of overweight people and the results were maintained in the follow-up phase (P <0.05).

According to the current findings, planning to use NLP method along with other training methods is necessary to improve psychological characteristics. As a result, health professionals and therapists can use NLP method to improve eating habits and the mental health of overweight people.