Assessing clinician competence in the delivery of cognitive-behavioural therapy for eating disorders: development of the Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy Scale for Eating Disorders (CBTS-ED)

Evidence-based cognitive-behaviour therapy for eating disorders (CBT-ED) differs from other forms of CBT for psychological disorders, making existing generic CBT measures of therapist competence inadequate for evaluating CBT-ED. This study developed and piloted the reliability of a novel measure of therapist competence in this domain-the Cognitive Behaviour Therapy Scale for Eating Disorders (CBTS-ED). Initially, a team of CBT-ED experts developed a 26-item measure, with general (i.e. present in every session) and specific (context- or case-dependent) items. To determine statistical properties of the measure, nine CBT-ED experts and eight non-experts independently observed six role-played mock CBT-ED therapy sessions, rating the therapists' performance using the CBTS-ED. The inter-item consistency (Cronbach's alpha and McDonald's omega) and inter-rater reliability (ICC) were assessed, as appropriate to the clustering of the items. The CBTS-ED demonstrated good internal consistency and moderate/good inter-rater reliability for the general items, at least comparable to existing generic CBT scales in other domains. An updated version is proposed, where five of the 16 "specific" items are reallocated to the general group. These preliminary results suggest that the CBTS-ED can be used effectively across both expert and non-expert raters, though less experienced raters might benefit from additional training in its use.

Orthorexia nervosa and eating disorder behaviors: A systematic review of the literature

BACKGROUND

Orthorexia nervosa (ON) involves obsessive thoughts about healthy eating and distress related to this obsession. There is still dispute over whether ON should be considered on the obsessive-compulsive spectrum, the eating disorder (ED) spectrum, or as its own disorder. Based on current research, orthorexic behaviors seem to be closely related to eating disorder behaviors. However, given the range of instruments used to measure ED and ON, and the lack of consistency in the specific ED domains explored, a review of the current literature is warranted.

OBJECTIVE

The objective of this study was to review the literature relating ON and ED symptoms in an effort to understand the nature of their relationship, and to identify ED symptom domains most closely related to ON.

METHODS

A search was conducted on PubMed, Science Direct, and Web of Science using the term "orthorexia" and at least one of the following: "anorexia nervosa," "bulimia nervosa," "eating disorder," "arfid," "restrictive," "body image," "weight concern," "shape concern." After exclusion criteria were applied, 42 articles were included in the review.

RESULTS

The results indicated that ON is consistently related to both trait and disordered restrictive eating symptoms of anorexia nervosa, and weight control motivations for food choice. However, ON was less consistently related to binge-spectrum eating disorder symptoms, emotional eating, uncontrolled eating, or body dissatisfaction/shape and weight concerns.

CONCLUSION

The finding that ON symptoms are related to restraint and weight loss efforts, but not to body dissatisfaction or dysregulated eating suggests that ON may represent a distinct ED.

Treating Eating: A Dynamical Systems Model of Eating Disorders

Mainstream forms of psychiatric talk therapy and cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) do not reliably generate lasting recovery for eating disorders. We discuss widespread assumptions regarding the nature of eating disorders as fundamentally psychological disorders and highlight the problems that underlie these notions, as well as related practical problems in the implementation of mainstream treatments. We then offer a theoretical and practical alternative: a dynamical systems model of eating disorders in which behavioral interventions are foregrounded as powerful mediators between psychological and physical states. We go on to present empirical evidence for behavioral modification specifically of eating speed in the treatment of eating disorders, and a hypothesis accounting for the etiology and progression, as well as the effective treatment, of the full spectrum of eating problems. A dynamical systems approach mandates that in any dietary and lifestyle change as profound as recovery from an eating disorder, acknowledgment must be made of the full range of pragmatic (psychological, cultural, social, etc.) factors involved. However, normalizing eating speed may be necessary if not sufficient for the development of a reliable treatment for the full spectrum of eating disorders, in its role as a mediator in the complex feedback loops that connect the biology and the psychology with the behaviors of eating.

A systematic review of enhanced cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT-E) for eating disorders

OBJECTIVE

To review the literature examining the efficacy and effectiveness of enhanced cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT-E) for adults and older adolescents with eating disorders.

METHOD

A systematic search of the literature (using PsycINFO and PubMed) was conducted in order to identify relevant publications (randomized controlled trials [RCTs] and uncontrolled trials) up to June 2019. Effect sizes were reported for outcomes including treatment attrition and remission rates, eating disorder behaviors, body mass index (BMI), and core eating disorder psychopathology. The Downs and Black checklist was used to assess the quality of included studies.

RESULTS

Twenty studies (10 RCTs and 10 uncontrolled trials) met criteria for inclusion. Support was found for the efficacy and effectiveness of CBT-E for the full spectrum of eating disorders, with respect to reducing eating disorder behaviors and core psychopathology. BMI also increased, with large effects, for individuals with AN. However, the majority of the randomized trials included in this review did not demonstrate superiority of CBT-E over comparison treatments, particularly in the longer-term. Furthermore, rates of attrition and remission for CBT-E among individuals without AN did not appear to differ from rates for CBT-BN.

DISCUSSION

There is evidence to support CBT-E as an efficacious and effective treatment for adults and older adolescents with a range of eating disorder diagnoses. Future research would benefit from directly comparing CBT-E to CBT-BN, expanding measured outcomes to include driven exercise and subjective binge eating, increasing consistency in the definition and measurement of outcomes, and exploring factors associated with treatment retention.

Treatment outcome research of enhanced cognitive behaviour therapy for eating disorders: a systematic review with narrative and meta-analytic synthesis

Enhanced cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT-E) has recently generated interest as a potentially useful treatment for eating disorders (ED). In the current study, we conducted a systematic review of the outcome literature on CBT-E, with both narrative and meta-analytic synthesis. We included single-group uncontrolled pre-post design studies and randomised control trials (RCTs) of CBT-E, which allowed us to include a larger number of studies, and also compare the two methodologies in terms of effect size. The primary analysis included 15 CBT-E studies with a total of 948 participants. Narrative synthesis examined bingeing and purging episodes, BMI change, and follow-up results. A large, statistically significant effect supported CBT-E as a treatment for all EDs (g = 1.06). When comparing methodologies, both pre-post design studies (g = 1.26) and RCTs (g = 0.82) yielded large effects. Narrative synthesis outlined reductions in ED behaviours and increases in BMI which were maintained at follow-up. Limitations include that further RCTs of CBT-E are needed to establish clinical effectiveness of this treatment approach for all EDs; however, results from narrative exploration indicate this endeavour would be worthwhile. Despite the limitations, this study provides additional support for CBT-E as a successful treatment across the range of EDs.

Treatment outcomes for eating disorders in Sweden: data from the national quality registry

OBJECTIVE

To report the outcomes of eating disorders treatment in Sweden in 2012-2016.

DESIGN

The number of patients treated and the number of patients not fulfilling an eating disorders diagnosis (remission) at 1 year of follow-up at the clinics listed in the National Quality Registry for Eating Disorders Treatment were analysed. The published outcomes at three clinics, which used survival analysis to estimate outcomes, were compared with their outcomes in the registry. Outcomes at the three biggest clinics were compared.

SETTING

All eating disorders clinics.

PARTICIPANTS

All patients treated at eating disorders clinics.

INTERVENTION

Cognitive-behavioural therapy at most clinics and normalisation of eating behaviour at the three clinics with published outcomes.

OUTCOME MEASURE

Proportion of patients in remission.

RESULTS

About 2600 patients were treated annually, fewer than half were followed up and remission rates decreased from 21% in 2014 to 14% in 2016. Outcomes, which differed among clinics and within clinics over time, have been publicly overestimated by excluding patients lost to follow-up. The published estimated rate of remission at three clinics that treated 1200 patients in 1993-2011 was 27%, 28% and 40% at 1 year of follow-up. The average rate of remission over the three last years at the biggest of these clinics was 36% but decreased from 29% and 30% to 16 and 14% at the two other of the biggest clinics.

CONCLUSIONS

With more than half the patients lost to follow-up and no data on relapse in the National Quality Registry, it is difficult to estimate the effects of eating disorders treatment in Sweden. Analysis of time to clinically significant events, including an extended period of follow-up, has improved the quality of the estimates at three clinics. Overestimation of remission rates has misled healthcare policies. The effect of eating disorders treatment has also been overestimated internationally.

Evaluation of the DSM-5 Severity Specifier for Bulimia Nervosa in Treatment-Seeking Youth

A new severity specifier for bulimia nervosa (BN), based on the frequency of inappropriate weight compensatory behaviours (e.g., laxative misuse, self-induced vomiting, fasting, diuretic misuse, and excessive exercise), has been added to the most recent (fifth) edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) as a means of addressing variability and heterogeneity in the severity of the disorder. While existing research provides support for the DSM-5 severity specifier for BN in adult patients, evidence for its validity and clinical utility in youth is currently lacking. To address this gap, data from 272 treatment-seeking adolescents with DSM-5 BN (94.2% female, M _age = 15.3 years, SD 1.7) were analysed to examine whether these patients, sub-grouped based on the DSM-5 severity definitions, would show meaningful differences in a broad range of clinical variables and demographic and physical characteristics. Analyses revealed that participants categorized with mild, moderate, severe, and extreme severity of BN significantly differed from each other in 15 variables regarding eating disorder pathological features and putative maintenance factors (i.e., core low self-esteem, perfectionism, social appearance anxiety, body surveillance, and mood intolerance), health-related quality of life and comorbid psychiatric (i.e., affective and anxiety) disorders (large effect sizes). Between-group differences in demographics, body mass index, or age-of-BN onset were not observed. Collectively, our findings provide support for the utility of the frequency of inappropriate weight compensatory behaviours as a severity indicator for BN and suggest that age-at-onset of BN is probably more disorder- than severity-dependent. Implications for future research are outlined.

Validity and clinical utility of the DSM-5 severity specifier for bulimia nervosa: results from a multisite sample of patients who received evidence-based treatment

A new "severity specifier" for bulimia nervosa (BN), based on the frequency of inappropriate weight compensatory behaviours (IWCBs), was added to the DSM-5 as a means of documenting heterogeneity and variability in the severity of the disorder. Yet, evidence for its validity in clinical populations, including prognostic significance for treatment outcome, is currently lacking. Existing data from 281 treatment-seeking patients with DSM-5 BN, who received the best available treatment for their disorder (manual-based cognitive behavioural therapy; CBT) in an outpatient setting, were re-analysed to examine whether these patients subgrouped based on the DSM-5 severity levels would show meaningful and consistent differences on (a) a range of clinical variables assessed at pre-treatment and (b) post-treatment abstinence from IWCBs. Results highlight that the mild, moderate, severe, and extreme severity groups were statistically distinguishable on 22 variables assessed at pre-treatment regarding eating disorder pathological features, maintenance factors of BN, associated (current) and lifetime psychopathology, social maladjustment and illness-specific functional impairment, and abstinence outcome. Mood intolerance, a maintenance factor of BN but external to eating disorder pathological features (typically addressed within CBT), emerged as the primary clinical variable distinguishing the severity groups showing a differential treatment response. Overall, the findings speak to the concurrent and predictive validity of the new DSM-5 severity criterion for BN and are important because a common benchmark informing patients, clinicians, and researchers about severity of the disorder and allowing severity fluctuation and patient's progress to be tracked does not exist so far. Implications for future research are outlined.

A Randomised Controlled Comparison of Second-Level Treatment Approaches for Treatment-Resistant Adults with Bulimia Nervosa and Binge Eating Disorder: Assessing the Benefits of Virtual Reality Cue Exposure Therapy

A question that arises from the literature on therapy is whether second-level treatment is effective for patients with recurrent binge eating who fail first-level treatment. It has been shown that subjects who do not stop binge eating after an initial structured cognitive-behavioural treatment (CBT) programme benefit from additional CBT (A-CBT) sessions; however, it has been suggested that these resistant patients would benefit even more from cue exposure therapy (CET) targeting features associated with poor response (e.g. urge to binge in response to a cue and anxiety experienced in the presence of binge-related cues). We assessed the effectiveness of virtual reality-CET as a second-level treatment strategy for 64 patients with bulimia nervosa and binge eating disorder who had been treated with limited results after using a structured CBT programme, in comparison with A-CBT. The significant differences observed between the two groups at post-treatment in dimensional (behavioural and attitudinal features, anxiety, food craving) and categorical (abstinence rates) outcomes highlighted the superiority of virtual reality-CET over A-CBT. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and Eating Disorders Association.

Content Analysis of the Construction of Self and Others in Women with Bulimia Nervosa

The purpose of this study was to explore the content of personal constructs in people diagnosed with bulimia nervosa (BN). We expected to find differences in the predominant content of the construct systems between women with and without BN. We analyzed the constructs elicited using the repertory grid technique from 120 women aged between 18 to 45 years, divided into two groups: a clinical group of women diagnosed with bulimia (n = 62) and a control group of university students (n = 58). The constructs were categorized using the Classification System for Personal Constructs (CSPC), composed of six themes which are broken down into 45 categories. For this study, a new area called “Physical” was included, and it consists of three categories. The results indicated that women diagnosed with bulimia used significantly more constructs related to the body, while the control group used more constructs from the personal area. In addition, the congruent constructs from the clinical sample were predominantly moral, or related to values and interests, while discrepant constructs were personal and physical. The findings provide evidence for the clinical use of the CSPC as an instrument for exploring the content of personal meaning systems. Understanding the patient’s personal constructions about herself and others is useful for treatment. Moreover, it is important for clinicians to explore the content of constructs related to symptomatic areas, which could be hindering change, and focus on them to facilitate improvement.

Cognitive behavior therapy for eating disorders versus normalization of eating behavior

We examine the science and evidence supporting cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) for the treatment of bulimia nervosa and other eating disorders. Recent trials focusing on the abnormal cognitive and emotional aspects of bulimia have reported a remission rate of about 45%, and a relapse rate of about 30% within one year. However, an early CBT trial that emphasized the normalization of eating behavior had a better outcome than treatment that focused on cognitive intervention. In support of this finding, another treatment, that restores a normal eating behavior using mealtime feedback, has an estimated remission rate of about 75% and a relapse rate of about 10% over five years. Moreover, when eating behavior was normalized, cognitive and emotional abnormalities were resolved at remission without cognitive therapy. The critical aspect of the CBT treatment of bulimia nervosa therefore may actually have been the normalization of eating behavior.

Testing the DSM-5 severity indicator for bulimia nervosa in a treatment-seeking sample

PURPOSE

This study tested the new DSM-5 severity criterion for bulimia nervosa (BN) based on the frequency of inappropriate weight compensatory behaviors in a treatment-seeking sample.

METHODS

Participants were 345 adults with DSM-5 BN presenting for treatment. They were sub-grouped based on DSM-5 severity levels and compared on a range of variables of clinical interest and demographics.

RESULTS

Based on DSM-5 severity definitions, 27.2 % of the sample was categorized with mild, 26.1 % with moderate, 24.9 % with severe, and 21.8 % with extreme severity of BN. Analyses revealed that the four (mild, moderate, severe, and extreme) severity groups of BN significantly differed from each other in eating disordered and body-related attitudes and behaviors, factors involved in the maintenance process of the disorder, comorbid psychiatric disorders, psychological distress, and psychosocial impairment (medium-to-large effect sizes). No significant between-group differences were observed in demographics, body mass index, or at the age when BN first occurred, lending some credence to recent suggestions that age-at-onset of BN may be more a disorder- than a severity-dependent variable.

CONCLUSIONS

Collectively, our findings provide support for the severity indicator for BN introduced in the DSM-5 as a means of addressing heterogeneity and variability in the severity of the disorder.

The role of body image psychological flexibility on the treatment of eating disorders in a residential facility

OBJECTIVE

The purpose of this study was to test whether pre-treatment levels of psychological flexibility would longitudinally predict quality of life and eating disorder risk in patients at a residential treatment facility for eating disorders.

METHOD

Data on body image psychological flexibility, quality of life, and eating disorder risk were collected from 63 adolescent and 50 adult, female, residential patients (N=113) diagnosed with an eating disorder. These same measures were again collected at post-treatment. Sequential multiple regression analyses were performed to test whether pre-treatment levels of psychological flexibility longitudinally predicted quality of life and eating disorder risk after controlling for age and baseline effects.

RESULTS

Pre-treatment psychological flexibility significantly predicted post-treatment quality of life with approximately 19% of the variation being attributable to age and pre-treatment psychological flexibility. Pre-treatment psychological flexibility also significantly predicted post-treatment eating disorder risk with nearly 30% of the variation attributed to age and pre-treatment psychological flexibility.

DISCUSSION

This study suggests that levels of psychological flexibility upon entering treatment for an eating disorder longitudinally predict eating disorder outcome and quality of life.