I'm curious as to what drives people to emotional eating? it's so common! what is the psychological/neurological connection that reinforces it?

Coping behavior : A coping behavior that a) has cultural roots - (ie, you feel bad so let's get ice cream) and b) is linked to our reliance on high carb high fat foods in general- make you feel good short term. Emotional eating is also negatively reinforcing - you eat to reduce stress, and works through reward structures in the brain- like other addictions or coping behaviors this makes it a hard habit to break.

Emotional eating: Eating to self-soothe is not uncommon, but doing it to excess is just a symptom of something that happened earlier. In an assessment I am looking at the person's history of trauma, loss, health issues etc. There are very complex interactions of behaviors, thoughts, neurochemistry and no one answer. Therapy is long-term better answer than just medication.