Coverant Control and Breath Holding as Techniques for the Treatment of Obesity

Abstract

This study tested two techniques for the treatment of obesity. Fifty-seven women volunteers were randomly assigned to three groups matched for age and estimated overweight. The coverant control group was trained in Homme’s method. Prior to permitting herself to perform a high probability reinforcing event (e.g., turning on the kitchen faucet or answering the phone), S would emit a negative non-eating coverant (e.g., imagining how ugly her fat was) and a positive non-eating coverant (e.g., visualizing how attractive she would look when she was slim). Ss in the breath-holding group were trained to take a deep breath and hold it when tempted to eat fattening foods. The control group was taught a modified version of Jacobson’s relaxation method. The groups were trained in seven sessions over 9 weeks. The coverant control group lost.75 pounds, the breath-holding group lost.43 pounds, and the relaxation group gained.53 pounds. None of these differences were significant. Implications for Homme’s theory and further research are discussed.