As you can see from above, emotional eating isn’t just a psychological issue; biological mechanisms also play a significant role. When we eat, our brains releases dopamine, a neurotransmitter that is associated with pleasure and reward. This reinforces the connection between eating and emotional relief, making it harder to break the cycle.

A 2023 study published in the Journal of Eating Disorders found that emotional eating can alter brain pathways over time, making individuals more reliant on food to regulate their mood . These changes make emotional eating a difficult pattern to break and may contribute to the development of eating disorders such as binge eating disorder.