The relationship between perceived evaluation of weight and treatment outcome among individuals with binge eating disorder.
OBJECTIVE
This study was designed to explore among individuals with binge eating disorder (BED) perceptions of others' evaluation of their weight-related behavior and affect aroused by such.


METHODS
Prior to treatment for binge eating and weight loss, 47 subjects diagnosed with BED completed a questionnaire designed to assess the perceived evaluation of an understanding and a critical individual in both positive and negative weight-related situations and subjects' affective responses to being evaluated.


RESULTS
Subjects exhibited characteristic patterns of affective response to perceived evaluation of their weight-related behavior, with negative situations and critical evaluators evoking greater degrees of negative affect. Negative affect in response to perceived evaluation was associated with poor outcome with weight loss but not binge eating. However, this finding was due to the correlation between negative affect in response to perceived evaluation and global severity of psychopathology (SCL-90-R).


CONCLUSIONS
The results suggest that psychopathology in this population predicts poor outcome with weight loss, and further that independent of its relationship with depression, psychopathology is strongly associated with a tendency to experience negative affect in response to perceived evaluation by others of weight-related behavior.
Eldredge
K L
KL
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University School of Medicine, CA 94305, USA.
Agras
W S
WS
D000328:Adult; D001828:Body Image; D001835:Body Weight; D015928:Cognitive Behavioral Therapy; D003863:Depression / Q000523:psychology; D004038:Diet, Reducing / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006963:Hyperphagia / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D007389:Internal-External Control; D008297:Male; D009765:Obesity / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D010555:Personality Inventory; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D015431:Weight Loss