The Influence of Expressive Suppression on Inhibition in Patients with Anorexia Nervosa

Abstract

Anorexia nervosa (AN) is a severe psychiatric disorder and an important underlying factor is the use of maladaptive emotion regulation. People with AN are specifically inclined to use expressive suppression to regulate emotions and this may deplete their self-control. The present study aims to investigate whether expressive suppression leads to worse inhibition in people with AN. Sixty-one participants (30 AN patients, 31 controls) were randomly assigned to one of two conditions: expressive suppression instruction or neutral instruction, then watched first a film fragment to induce negative emotions. Subsequently inhibition was measured with the Stop Signal Task. Results replicated that AN patients use expressive suppression more than control participants. Moreover, no inhibition impairment was found in AN patients. Negative emotions were successfully induced, but no effect of expressive suppression on inhibition was found in both groups. The present study showed that people with AN are indeed inclined to use expressive suppression to regulate emotions, but this does not affect inhibition. This study did not allow to distinguish between the subtypes of AN, that could differ on inhibitory control. Hence, future research should investigate the effect of expressive suppression on inhibition, thereby considering the role of motivation and the subtypes of AN.