Exploring Tailored Virtual Emotion Regulation Approaches for Individuals with Emotional Eating 169 6 not know what to do with it. Due to the recognized limited awareness of their body’s internal signals in this group of individuals with emotional eating, leading to a reduced understanding of bodily sensations [12], special emphasis should be placed on teaching skills to enhance the recognition of these sensations. Moreover, themere act of being aware of physical sensations, such as tingling, numbness, itchiness, pulse, skin stretch, warmth, coolness, muscular stiffness, and vibration in the body, can elicit physical sensations. Tihanyi, Ferentzi and Köteles [68] describe this phenomenon as attention-related body sensations. In their research they explain that focused attention on the body can trigger (automatic) thoughts and judgments about the body or experienced sensations. These thoughts and judgments can activate negative emotions, such as shame or fear, which in turn can bring about changes in physiological sensations (e.g., muscle stiffness). This may explain why one of the participants from the current study experienced an increase in bodily tension while practicing with the body scan exercise. Other participants indicated a need for additional information about physical sensations and its potential causes (e.g., physiological, or psychological). Physiological changes, such as reduction in muscle tension, can be measured using sensor technology (muscle tension sensor) [69]. Disturbances in heart rate variability caused by stress can also be monitored by sensors in a wearable device, such as a watch [70]. The outcomes of those measurements can be fed back to the user via the virtual coach, who can pair their own experiences with the information generated by the virtual coach and thus deepen their insights. The feedback regarding positive reframing was mostly positive, as it prompted participants to actively engage in thoughtful reflection on events and even identify positive elements within negative situations (“...forces you to see positive aspects in negative things”). On the other hand, the negative aspects of this exercise were primarily related to the repetitive nature of the task, with the absence of a specific trigger at times, which made it feel less necessary to perform the exercise. Certain participants found the exercises to be monotonous, lacking variety in execution. They perceived them as too challenging and incomprehensible, with inadequate guidance on how to perform them. Some participants even considered the exercises to be pointless due to a lack of understanding of their purpose. Participants expressed that there was insufficient support to fully grasp the exercises, particularly finding the body scan exercise to be difficult. Emotional eating behaviour is frequently accompanied by alexithymia, which refers to the difficulty in recognizing and describing one’s own emotions [13-14, 71]. Individuals with underdeveloped skills in this area can benefit from psychoeducation to enhance their understanding of their own emotions [72-74]. The lack of clear instructions and limited online assistance demotivated users. Consequently,
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