Introduction:
Obesity is becoming extremely prevalent and it's a major health problem worldwide and in Egypt too. Obesity is a condition characterized by excessive accumulation of fat in the body. And it's defined as a BMI of 30 and above.
Years ago, it was believed that the correlation between depression and obesity was merely coincidental but recently a lot of research is revealing the mediating mechanisms between both. Studies suggested that different biological mechanisms linking these two conditions such as the involvement of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA) dysregulation, inflammation, endocrinal system, as well as Genetic susceptibility. In addition to the behavioral and psychological aspects that may promote both conditions.
Alexithymia is one of the psychological traits that predispose to obesity and depression. And it reflects difficulty in emotional regulation and cognitive processing. In addition, it's characterized by three subscales: difficulty in indentifying emotions, difficulty in describing and external oriented thinking. Alexithymia and its subcomponents had been implicated in depressive disorders, binge eating disorders and obesity.