Eating Recovery Center Announces Groundbreaking Study on Binge Eating Disorder

December 19, 2018

Featuring:
Julie Kabat Friedman, PhD

Eating Recovery Center's Binge Eating Treatment and Recovery Program launches study to examine successful treatment elements for what is now considered to be the most common eating disorder in the United States.

DENVER, Dec. 18, 2018 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Eating Recovery Center (ERC), the only national, vertically integrated, health care system dedicated to the treatment of serious eating and related disorders at any stage of the illness, announces today the launch of a new study that will examine elements of treatment that are necessary for successful reduction of and/or abstinence from binge eating and other eating disordered behaviors in a sample of patients with binge eating disorder (BED) and Bulimia Nervosa (BN).

Conducted through ERC's Binge Eating Treatment and Recovery (BETR) Program, this groundbreaking study will examine predictors of successful treatment in 100 consecutive patients admitted to ERC's Residential and Partial Hospitalization program. The study will also look at how treatment impacts psychosocial variables, behavioral indices – such as binge eating intensity, frequency, and duration – and medical and health related outcomes. Patients will be followed throughout their time in treatment and for 12 months following. 
Now considered to be the most prevalent eating disorder in the United States1, symptoms of BED include eating large amounts of food while feeling a loss of control (binge eating) at least once a week for three months or more, "emotional eating," and distress associated with the binge behaviors, including feelings of distress, shame, and/or guilt during and after binge eating episodes.

Specific gaps in the current literature that the study will address include: 

  •     The application of Exposure and Response Prevention Therapy to the treatment of BED and Night Eating Syndrome.
  •     How medical markers change as behavioral changes are made, irrespective of weight status and weight changes.
  •     Treating BED in the context of comorbid mood and anxiety disorders due to the high rates of comorbidity and the paucity of research looking at treatment parameters with complex cases.
  •     What happens to patients following discharge from higher levels of care and tracking skill acquisition and generalization to home environments.

"Eating Recovery Center is committed to rigorous scientific investigation, as well as taking the very best care of patients, families and caregivers impacted by eating disorders," says Julie Friedman, Ph.D., National Senior Director, Binge Eating Treatment and Recovery, Eating Recovery Center. "We anticipate that this study will be a meaningful addition to the current research, and we are excited about the findings and how they will impact future treatment for, and ultimate recovery from, BED and other eating disorders."

The BETR program at ERC provides intensive, specialized and multidisciplinary care for patients suffering from BED, Night Eating Syndrome, Bulimia Nervosa and related psychopathology. The first treatment program of its kind for those suffering from BED, BETR launched in 2013 to answer the growing need for a specific curriculum and treatment program in a unique and accessible environment, all of which is led by a multidisciplinary team with individual patient focus.

The program includes Intensive Outpatient Programs (IOP), Partial Hospitalization Programs (PHP) and Residential Programs. ERC's PHP for BETR, as with all of eating disorder programs, offers a unique standard of care as the program provides 80 hours of intense treatment a week.

To date, the BETR program has served over 1,000 patients in its brief five-year tenure, with excellent treatment outcomes and high patient satisfaction metrics. A recent survey of patients in the BETR program concluded that 88% of the patients stated "life is better" following treatment, with improvements in areas of stress management, sleep, management of health-related and medical issues, and decreased depression and anxiety symptoms along with decreased (or abstinence from) eating disordered behaviors.

About Eating Recovery Center and Pathlight Behavioral Health Centers 
Eating Recovery Center (ERC) is the only national, vertically integrated, health care system dedicated to the treatment of serious eating and related disorders at any stage of the illness. ERC offers best-in-class treatment programs for all patients, no matter their age or gender, struggling from: anorexia, bulimia, binge eating disorder, unspecified eating disorders, as well as comorbid, co-occurring and dual diagnoses. Led by the world's leading experts in eating disorder treatment, ERC provides a full spectrum of eating disorder recovery services through an unmatched network of multiple locations across seven states.

ERC partners with Pathlight Behavioral Health Centers (Pathlight) to offer best-in-class treatment for mood, anxiety and trauma-related conditions for children, adolescents, adults and families, including depressive disorders; anxiety disorders; bipolar disorder; post-traumatic stress disorder; trauma attachment disorders; personality disorders; self-injury; co-occurring substance use; school refusal; social anxiety, autism spectrum conditions or characteristics; adjustment disorder; grief and complicated grief.

1.    https://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/learn/by-eating-disorder/bed