The Effect of Unified Transdiagnostic Therapy on Binge Eating and Difficulties in Emotion Regulation in Patients with Binge Eating Disorder: A Single-Blind Randomized Controlled Trial

Aim and This study was designed to determine the effect of unified transdiagnostic therapy on binge eating and difficulties in emotion regulation in patients with binge eating disorder.
Methods and Materials: In this single-blind randomized controlled trial, the study population consisted of all women diagnosed with binge eating disorder in Kashan, Iran. Of those who went to the nutrition clinic in Kashan in the first half of 2015, 60 individuals of 19-52 years of age who were diagnosed with binge eating disorder were selected through purposive sampling and were randomly assigned to two groups in order to receive transdiagnostic therapy (n = 30) or remain on the waiting list (n = 30) for 12 weeks. The dependent variables were measured using the Binge Eating Scale (BES) (Gormally et al.) and Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS) (Gratz and Roemer). The collected data were analyzed using MANCOVA.
Findings: After 12 weeks, compared with the control group, transdiagnostic therapy resulted in a significant reduction in binge eating (-8.46 ± 3.55 vs. -1.36 ± 1.90) (P The behavioral component of unified transdiagnostic therapy focuses on the normalization of eating patterns, planning of meals, nutrition education, and culmination of the cycles of binge eating, and training of the individual to use smaller amounts of food regularly. Moreover, the cognitive component of this therapy focuses on coping with dysfunctional thoughts associated with binge eating. Generally, unified transdiagnostic therapy intervention had positive effects on binge eating disorder and difficulties in emotion regulation.