Negative urgency and eating all that ice cream

Why you shouldn’t blame yourself for binge eating - The Washington Post:

"Most people tend to react similarly to depression. When they feel down, they lose interest in doing things and enjoying them. The tendency is so prevalent that lack of interest—in people, outings, and even food—is recognized as one of the five clinical signs of depression. "When people are feeling depressed, they end up withdrawing, becoming more internal, becoming more lethargic," said Kelly Klump, who teaches psychology at Michigan State University.

But there also exists a subset of people who tend to exhibit a different reaction. For these people, depression breeds high levels of impulsivity. They do things they wouldn't otherwise do.

Like opening a pint of ice cream, and polishing it off.

That psychological quirk — the tendency to become more impulsive when feeling less content — is often referred to as "negative urgency." And negative urgency is actually considered by some experts to be a specific biological trait in people, just like alcoholism has been found to be the extension of specific biological impulses.

As a result, people who exhibit negative urgency, turning to binge eating when they're depressed, are not merely demonstrating a lack of willpower or an ordinary mood swing. They're engaging in a biologically driven behavior."



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