Abstract
BackgroundDialectical behavior therapy (DBT), which appears to be an effective treatment for binge eating disorder (BED), focuses on teaching emotion regulation skills. However, the role of improved emotion regulation in predicting treatment outcome in BED is uncertain.MethodsThis secondary analysis explored whether change in self-reported emotion regulation (as measured by the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale) during treatment was associated with abstinence from binge eating at post-treatment and 4-, 5-, and 6-month follow-up in individuals who received a guided self-help adaptation of DBT for BED. Participants were 60 community-based men and women with BED who received a self-help manual and six 20-minute support phone calls.ResultsGreater improvement in self-reported emotion regulation between pre- and post-treatment predicted abstinence from binge eating at post-treatment, 4-, 5-, and 6-month follow-up. However, some follow-up results were no longer significant when imputed data was excluded, suggesting that the effect of emotion regulation on binge abstinence may be strongest at 4-month follow-up but decline across a longer duration of follow-up.ConclusionsThis study provides preliminary support for the theoretical role played by improved emotion regulation in achieving binge eating abstinence. If this finding is replicated with larger samples, further research should identify specific techniques to help more individuals to effectively regulate their emotions over a longer duration.
Highlights
Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), which appears to be an effective treatment for binge eating disorder (BED), focuses on teaching emotion regulation skills
Mean scores for Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS) total and subscale scores are presented in Table 2 for descriptive purposes
This study explored the predictive significance of magnitude of change in emotion regulation during the course of treatment on binge abstinence at post-treatment, four, five, and six-month follow-up among individuals who received guided self-help DBT for BED
Summary
Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), which appears to be an effective treatment for binge eating disorder (BED), focuses on teaching emotion regulation skills. The role of improved emotion regulation in predicting treatment outcome in BED is uncertain. Binge eating disorder (BED) is associated with specific eating disorder psychopathology, notable psychiatric comorbidity, and considerable psychosocial and functional impairment [1,2]. One psychological mechanism that has been hypothesized to be integral to the development and maintenance of binge eating is maladaptive emotion regulation [12,13,14]. Binge eating has been described as a maladaptive emotion regulation strategy, wherein binge eating is used to temporarily relieve an aversive emotional state
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