New Delhi: Talk therapy and guided self-help are both more likely to keep people free from binge eating disorder than behavioural weight loss treatment, according to a study.

Earlier research has shown these treatments for binge eating to have similar short-term results, but long-term studies have been lacking. To investigate, researchers assigned 205 American men and women with binge eating disorder to six months of treatment with either 20 sessions of interpersonal psychotherapy, 20 sessions of behavioural weight loss treatment, or 10 sessions of guided self-help cognitive behavioural therapy.

Interpersonal psychotherapy is a short-term treatment that focuses on how people relate to others. Cognitive behavioural therapy is also relatively short-term, but focuses on emotional responses to situations. In the guided self-help treatment used in the study, patients used a cognitive behavioural manual under guidance from a therapist. The behavioural weight loss treatment included some calorie restriction, and exercise. Subjects were all overweight or obese and had been diagnosed with binge eating disorder.

When the researchers looked at the rate of binge eating immediately after treatment, and six months later, there were no differences found between the groups. Two years later, however, both interpersonal therapy and cognitive behaviour therapy/guided self-help were significantly more effective than behavioural weight loss therapy in terms of remission from binge eating. About 60 percent of the interpersonal therapy and cognitive behaviour therapy/guided self-help groups were in remission after two years, compared with about 40 percent of the behavioural weight loss group. Those with low self-esteem and very severe binge eating symptoms also benefited more from interpersonal psychotherapy.

Based on the results, the researchers concluded that doctors should try cognitive behaviour therapy/guided self-help treatment first, except in patients with low self-esteem and severe symptoms, who should receive interpersonal psychotherapy

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