title: Are we really delivering evidence-based treatments for eating disorders? How eating-disordered patients describe their experience of cognitive behavioral therapy.
abstract: Psychotherapists report routinely not practising evidence-based treatments. However, there is little research examining the content of therapy from the patient perspective. This study examined the self-reported treatment experiences of individuals who had been told that they had received cognitive-behavior therapy (CBT) for their eating disorder. One hundred and fifty-seven such sufferers (mean age = 25.69 years) were recruited from self-help organisations. Participants completed an online survey assessing demographics, clinical characteristics, and therapy components. The use of evidence-based CBT techniques varied widely, with core elements for the eating disorders (e.g., weighing and food monitoring) used at well below the optimum level, while a number of unevidenced techniques were reported as being used commonly. Cluster analysis showed that participants received different patterns of intervention under the therapist label of 'CBT', with evidence-based CBT being the least common. Therapist age and patient diagnosis were related to the pattern of intervention delivered. It appears that clinicians are not subscribing to a transdiagnostic approach to the treatment of eating disorders. Patient recollections in this study support the conclusion that evidence-based practice is not routinely undertaken with this client group, even when the therapy offered is described as such.
authors.affiliation: Clinical Psychology Unit, Department of Psychology, University of Sheffield, UK.
authors.forename: Natasha D
authors.initials: ND
authors.lastname: Cowdrey
authors.affiliation: Clinical Psychology Unit, Department of Psychology, University of Sheffield, UK. Electronic address: g.waller@sheffield.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Glenn
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Waller
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D015928:Cognitive Behavioral Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D019317:Evidence-Based Medicine; D001068:Feeding and Eating Disorders / Q000523:psychology* / Q000628:therapy*; D005260:Female; D015438:Health Behavior; D006282:Health Personnel; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D057566:Self Report
keywords: Cognitive behavior therapy: therapist drift; Eating disorders; Patient perspectives