Abstract: Objective: To gain a thorough understanding of the emotional experience of adolescents with eating disorders, in order to provide references for formulating targeted emotional interventions. Methods: A descriptive phenomenological approach was used. The semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted in 19 adolescents with eating disorders between November 2023 and December 2024. The interview data were analysed using Colaizzi's seven-step analysis. Results: Three core themes emerged including attention to emotions (lack of positive emotions, intense and persistent negative emotions, emotional sensitivity with significant fluctuations), emotional clarity (limited range of positive emotional experiences, rich variety of negative emotional experiences), and emotional repair (frequent use of harmful coping mechanisms, insufficient resources for benign repair). Conclusion: Adolescents with eating disorders experience complex and difficult-to-regulate negative emotions and frequently resort to maladaptive coping strategies. This suggests that healthcare professionals should pay attention to emotional problems of adolescents with eating disorders and strengthen training in their emotional regulation skills.

Key words: eating disorder; adolescent; emotion; emotion regulation; qualitative study