Binge Eating Anxiety and Mood (BEAM)

University of California San Diego

Status: Completed

Conditions: Binge-Eating Disorder; Binge Eating; Mood Disorders; Anxiety Disorders

Treatments: Behavioral: Executive Function- Enhanced CBT for BED (EF-BED+CBT); Behavioral: Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT04242550

NARSAD YI 27943

Details and patient eligibility

About

Binge Eating Disorder (BED) is the most common eating disorder, and currently, the best behavioral treatments only work for 40-60% of adults. BED often co-occurs with mood and anxiety disorders, and both are associated with neurocognitive deficits related to executive function (EF). These EF deficits contribute to worsening BED symptoms and make it difficult for these adults to adhere to treatment recommendations. The proposed study aims to develop an EF training enhanced behavioral treatment for BED and compare its effectiveness to the standard cognitive behavioral therapy for patients with BED and a co-occurring mood or anxiety disorder.

Full description

A randomized controlled trial (RCT) will evaluate an EF training enhanced cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for BED (EF-BED+CBT) compared to standard CBT in patients with BED and a comorbid mood/anxiety disorder to assess the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary efficacy of EF-BED+CBT in reducing binge eating, impairment, and comorbid depression/anxiety symptoms. Adult participants with BED and comorbid mood/anxiety disorder will be randomized to a four month remote treatment of either EF-BED+CBT or CBT alone. Participants will be assessed at baseline, following treatment (month 4) and 2-month follow-up (month 6).

Enrollment: 39 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18 to 65 years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Age 18-65
• Ability to read English at a 6th grade level
• Clinical or subclinical BED and at least one comorbid mood or anxiety disorder

Exclusion criteria

• Known cognitive disability (e.g., brain injury with loss of consciousness >30 min, intellectual disability)
• Psychosis
• Psychiatric condition that could interfere with program participation (e.g., substance abuse, suicide attempt within previous 6 months, active purging, active suicidality)
• Currently pregnant, lactating or plan to be in the timespan of program follow-up
• Change in psychotropic medication or other medication that could have impact on weight, binge eating or anxiety/mood symptoms during the previous 3 months
• Participating in an organized program for overeating

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Single Blind

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39 participants in 2 patient groups

Executive Function- Enhanced CBT for BED (EF-BED+CBT)

Experimental group

Description:

EF-BED+CBT will combine CBT with executive function training, enhancing CBT with a focus on teaching compensatory strategies, habit learning, and plan for generalization to real-world behaviors.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Executive Function- Enhanced CBT for BED (EF-BED+CBT)

Behavioral: Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)

Active Comparator group

Description:

CBT will be based on the "Overcoming Binge Eating" book. CBT addresses disturbed eating patterns and problematic thoughts/beliefs related to eating, shape and weight that contribute to binge eating. CBT is the current gold standard treatment for BED.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)