Effects of Cognitive-Behavioral Group Therapy for Binge Eating

Kong, Seongsuk; Kim, Joonki; Bae, Jaehyun

Abstract

OBJECTIVES
The binge eaters are increasing rapidly since 1990's in Korea. The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of cognitive-behavioral group therapy on improving the frequency of binging and purging, eating attitude, self-esteem, and depression. METHOD: The subjects were 27 women who showed over 17 on the EAT-26 among binge eaters visited at eating disorders clinic "M". 10 sessions of cognitive-behavioral group therapy were provided to each group composed of 8-10 binge eaters. All subjects completed the Eating Disorders Inventory (EDI), Rosenberg Self-Eesteem Scale, Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) pre- and post intervention, and recorded daily food records. Paired t-test was used for the comparison of EDI subscales before and after treatment.
RESULTS
Frequency of binging and purging, self-esteem, depression, drive for thinness, bulimia, body dissatisfaction, ineffectiveness, interoceptive awareness subscales of EDI showed significant immprovement but perfectionism, interpersoual distrust, maturity fear subscales of EDI showed no improvement after the cognitive-behavioral group therapy. Frequency of binging and purging per week showed a general trend of decline from the beginning to the end of the treatment and a rapid decrease at the second week was noticed.
CONCLUSION
The results of this preliminary study suggest that cognitive-behavioral group therapy may be an effective initial approach for the treatment of binge eating. Future research aimed at replicating these initial results and providing systematic long-term evaluation is needed.