ABSTRACT
Mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) have been used in the treatment of a growing number of clinical disorders in recent decades. The original mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) program was created by Jon Kabat-Zinn in 1979, to help people with chronic pain. MBIs have been adapted and are now offered around the world to support individuals with stress, anxiety, depression, chronic pain and the stress related to medical conditions such as cancer. This chapter summarizes current information concerning the role of mindfulness in the treatment of eating disorders, including food addiction. It describes the concept of mindfulness and descriptions of the underlying mechanisms. The chapter presents the use of MBIs for substance use disorders (SUDs) and the shared features of SUDs and food addiction to illustrate the potential utility of MBIs for treatment of food addiction. It also includes selected empirical and theoretical evidence for mindfulness behavioral approaches to treatment of eating disorders in general, with examples of protocols.
