title: Group cognitive behavioral treatment in female soldiers diagnosed with binge/purge eating disorders.
abstract: Cognitive behavioral treatment (CBT) is the recommended intervention in bulimia nervosa (BN) and eating disorders not otherwise specified with binge/purge (EDNOS-B/P) symptoms. There are fewer data on its application in a group format. We sought to investigate the effect of group CBT in female soldiers with B/P symptomatology in an open trial design. For this purpose we assessed 64 female soldiers serving in the Israeli Defense Force diagnosed with BN and EDNOS-B/P who participated in a group CBT format of 16 weekly sessions and one follow-up session. In this study, 42 participants (65.6%) completed treatment and 22 participants (34.4%) did not. A total of 39 treatment completers (92.8% of treatment completers) and 19 non-completers (86.4% of treatment non-completers) were assessed around 12 months after treatment. Participants completed at baseline and following treatment questionnaires assessing eating-related symptoms, depression, anxiety, and overall functioning. At follow-up they were assessed for eating-related symptoms. Our findings show only minimal baseline differences between treatment completers and non-completers. Significant improvement from baseline to post-treatment was shown for B/P and restrictive symptoms, depression, anxiety, and overall functioning. At that time, more than a third of treatment completers were abstinent from binging and more than a half from vomiting. The improvement in B/P and restricting symptoms was maintained at 1 year follow-up for treatment completers. At that time around 60% were abstinent from binging and more than 70% from vomiting. Participants not completing treatment were also improved at follow-up but to a lesser extent. The findings of the present study suggest that group CBT may be effective for the treatment of female soldiers with BN and EDNOS-B/P.
authors.affiliation: a Israel Defense Force , Medical Corps , Tel Hashomer , Israel.
authors.forename: Rinat
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Carter
authors.affiliation: a Israel Defense Force , Medical Corps , Tel Hashomer , Israel.
authors.forename: Dana
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Yanykulovitch-Levy
authors.affiliation: a Israel Defense Force , Medical Corps , Tel Hashomer , Israel.
authors.forename: Hadas
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wertheim
authors.affiliation: a Israel Defense Force , Medical Corps , Tel Hashomer , Israel.
authors.forename: Shirley
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Gordon-Erez
authors.affiliation: a Israel Defense Force , Medical Corps , Tel Hashomer , Israel.
authors.forename: Meital
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Shahimov
authors.affiliation: b Felsenstein Medical Research Center, and Research Unit at the Geha Mental Health Center , Rabin Campus , Petah Tiqva , Israel.|c Sackler Faculty of Medicine , Tel Aviv University , Tel Aviv , Israel.
authors.forename: Abraham
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Weizman
authors.affiliation: c Sackler Faculty of Medicine , Tel Aviv University , Tel Aviv , Israel.|d Pediatric Psychosomatic Department, Safra Children's Hospital, Chaim Sheba Medical Center , Tel Hashomer , Israel.
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Stein
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D056912:Binge-Eating Disorder / Q000628:therapy*; D052018:Bulimia Nervosa / Q000628:therapy*; D015928:Cognitive Behavioral Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007557:Israel; D008889:Military Personnel / Q000523:psychology*; D011615:Psychotherapy, Group / Q000379:methods*; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D055815:Young Adult