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Implementing a condensed dialectical behavior therapy skills group for binge-eating behaviors in adolescents

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Abstract

Purpose

Subthreshold binge-eating disorder (BED) symptoms can lead to additive physical and psychological health challenges and may put youth at risk for developing BED during the early adulthood. We examined the implementation of a condensed dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) skills intervention for subthreshold binge-eating behaviors in adolescents.

Methods

Fifteen 14–18 years old participated in a 10-week DBT skills group, which experientially introduced mindfulness, distress tolerance, emotion regulation, and interpersonal effectiveness skills in the context of emotionally driven overeating behaviors. Adolescents and caregivers completed measures of emotional eating and binge-eating behaviors at baseline and post-intervention, including the Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire and Emotional Eating Scale for Children and Adolescents. Eleven participants were retained at 3-month follow-up.

Results

Descriptive statistics were compared at all three time points. Results suggested a reduction in emotional eating and binge-eating behaviors based on youth self-report and caregiver report. Acceptability ratings of the treatment were high among participants completing the intervention.

Conclusions

Using DBT skills to target emotionally driven overeating behaviors in youth may be useful in the treatment of subthreshold BED behaviors and potentially deter future development of full-criteria BED.

Level of evidence

Level IV, uncontrolled pilot trial.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to acknowledge Kristina Decker, M.A., Tiffany Rybak, M.S., Robin Hardin, M.A., Courtney Maclin, M.S., and Caroline Kaufman, M.S. for serving as DBT skills group facilitators and co-facilitators for the present research intervention.

Funding

This work was funded by the International Society for the Improvement and Teaching of Dialectical Behavior Therapy Student Research Grant (PI: Kamody), a Children’s Foundation Research Institute at Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital Research Grant (PI: Burton), and the Brinkley Foundation.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, The University of Memphis, 202 Psychology Building, Memphis, TN, 38152, USA

    Rebecca C. Kamody & Idia B. Thurston

  2. Yale University Child Study Center, 230 South Frontage Road, New Haven, CT, 06520, USA

    Rebecca C. Kamody

  3. Department of Pediatrics, University of Tennessee Health Science Center, 50 N. Dunlap Street, Memphis, TN, 38103, USA

    Idia B. Thurston, Joan C. Han & E. Thomaseo Burton

  4. Children’s Foundation Research Institute, Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital, 50 N. Dunlap Street, Memphis, TN, 38103, USA

    Idia B. Thurston, Joan C. Han & E. Thomaseo Burton

  5. Division of Adolescent and Young Adult Medicine, Boston Children’s Hospital, 333 Longwood Avenue, Boston, MA, 02115, USA

    Emily I. Pluhar

  6. Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, 25 Shattuck Street, Boston, MA, 02115, USA

    Emily I. Pluhar

  7. Department of Physiology, University of Tennessee Health Science Center, 71 S. Manassas Street, Memphis, TN, 38163, USA

    Joan C. Han

Authors
  1. Rebecca C. Kamody
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  2. Idia B. Thurston
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  3. Emily I. Pluhar
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  4. Joan C. Han
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  5. E. Thomaseo Burton
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Rebecca C. Kamody.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Informed consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants (and/or their parent/legally authorized representative) included in the study.

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Kamody, R.C., Thurston, I.B., Pluhar, E.I. et al. Implementing a condensed dialectical behavior therapy skills group for binge-eating behaviors in adolescents. Eat Weight Disord 24, 367–372 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40519-018-0580-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40519-018-0580-4

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