‘Sugar is the devil’: Exploring psychological flexibility and inflexibility in orthorexia through interpretative phenomenological analysis

Abstract

Orthorexia nervosa is described as a pathological focus on healthy eating and is part of the spectrum of eating disorders. This study investigates the involvement of psychological flexibility in orthorexia nervosa and non-pathological interest in healthy eating. Fifteen semi-structured interviews were conducted and analyzed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). The results highlight that healthy eating can be associated with both concerns for health and environmental issues. Disturbances may emerge when the diet comes into conflict with food pleasure and social context. Orthorexia nervosa seems to be associated with rigid self-perception and experiential avoidance whereas non-problematic dietary choices are based on various values. The results suggest that psychological inflexibility may play a key role in orthorexia nervosa and could represent a promising target for intervention. This study also provides interesting qualitative findings on an emerging research topic that suggests a link between orthorexia nervosa and concern for the environment.