Six-month follow-up of in-patient experiential cognitive therapy for binge eating disorders

Cyberpsychol Behav. 2003 Jun;6(3):251-8. doi: 10.1089/109493103322011533.

Abstract

Treating binge eating disorders is not easy: the disordered eating is usually combined with a patient who is overweight and often obese. As underlined by the current literature, treatment outcome must focus, at a minimum, on the binge eating characterizing this disorder, on weight changes, and preferably also changes in co-morbid psychopathology. To address these issues, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is still considered the best approach. However, if we check the results of follow-up studies, different authors reported some relapse in the frequency of binge eating and small weight gains over the follow-up period. This paper describes the 6-month follow-up outcome of the Experiential Cognitive Therapy (ECT), a multi factorial treatment for binge eating disorders, including virtual reality therapy. These results are compared in a randomized controlled trial (n = 36) with the ones obtained by CBT and nutritional groups only. The results showed that 77% of the ECT group quit binging after 6 months versus 56% for the CBT sample and 22% for the nutritional group sample. Moreover, the ECT sample reported better scores in most psychometric tests including EDI-2 and body image scores.

Publication types

  • Clinical Trial
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Adult
  • Body Image
  • Bulimia / diagnosis
  • Bulimia / therapy*
  • Cognitive Behavioral Therapy / methods*
  • Female
  • Follow-Up Studies
  • Humans
  • Middle Aged
  • Personality Inventory
  • Self Concept
  • Surveys and Questionnaires