Emotions in eating disorders: changes of anger control after an emotion-focused day hospital treatment.

Objective: Emotional states are key elements of eating disorders (EDs), with anger and aggressiveness playing an important role. This study aimed to investigate anger features in ED patients before and after an intensive day hospital (DH) specifically focused on emotions.

Method: Forty-one ED patients were admitted to our DH, which specifically includes emotion-focused activities. They completed self-reported questionnaires at the beginning and after the intervention: Eating Disorders Inventory-2, State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory (STAXI) and Beck Depression Inventory (BDI).

Results: Anger Control (Axcon) subscale of STAXI decreased significantly, and both BDI and body mass index - in case of underweight patients - significantly improved after completion of DH. Axcon decrease correlated with BMI improvement. The majority of individuals showing good outcome reported also a significant improvement in Axcon levels.

Discussion: This study provided preliminary data about the effectiveness - mainly in anger coping - of an emotion-focused DH.