Changes in Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Following Eating Disorders Treatment: Relevant Prospective Implications for Treatment Outcome

TL;DR

This study shows that improving emotion regulation during eating disorder treatment is linked to better recovery outcomes.

Contribution

The study identifies a direct link between post-treatment emotion regulation improvements and better eating disorder treatment outcomes.

Findings

80% of patients achieving full remission reported reduced emotion regulation difficulties.

Poor treatment outcomes were directly linked to increased post-treatment emotion regulation difficulties.

Improvements in global psychopathology severity were associated with higher pre-treatment emotion regulation difficulties.

Abstract

Background: Difficulties in emotion regulation (ER) are commonly described in eating disorders (ED), but few studies report its impact on ED treatment outcome. The main goal of this study was to investigate the patterns of change in difficulties in ER among ED-diagnosed female patients who received a Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) treatment. Methods: Participants (N = 74; Mage = 29.2; SD = 11.5) completed pre- and post-treatment questionnaires to assess difficulties in ER, disordered eating symptoms, general psychopathology, and personality traits. Results: Considering ED treatment outcome status, 24.3% of patients displayed a poor outcome, while 28.4% achieved partial remission, and 47.3% achieved full remission. Most of the patients who achieved full remission (80%) reported decreases in difficulties in ER, while only 55.6% of the participants displaying poor outcomes reported improvements in ER. The results from the structural equation modeling (SEM) suggest that the risk of poor outcome was directly related to increased post-treatment difficulties in ER, while improvements in the severity index of global psychopathology was related to increased pre-treatment difficulties in ER. Conclusions: Better ED treatment outcomes are associated with higher levels of ER improvements. Future prospective studies are warranted to establish which ER components may positively influence the recovery of ED-diagnosed patients.

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