I don't understand the point of this study. Someone might become dependent on exercise to escape things in their life they don't want to or can't deal with. So then what? Are you going to tell someone to stop exercising? Maybe take some SSRIs? Doesn't seem likely to lead to a better outcome to me.
Seeing as how stress usually corresponds to a fight or flight situation, running really does seem apt to deal with it. Now you could potentially argue that drinking while thirsty actually leads to dependence on water as well but hey, are all dependencies really bad?
Its nice to attempt to define positive vs negative escapism, I wonder how solid their definition is. If someone has anxiety and they run because it brings relief, their definition would seemingly classify that as maladaptive escapism, or self suppression. I dont know if that goes against mental wellbeing, or rather, if theres a better route. Looking forward to read the comments here