Binge-eating disorder and obesity. A combined treatment approach

Patients presenting with both obesity and BED face multiple challenges: normalizing their eating, improving their physical health, and working to enhance their own acceptance of their body image. In an effort to feel better about themselves, they often have become trapped in a cycle of desperately attempting to diet, then losing control, binge eating, and gaining even more weight. Several psychological and pharmacologic treatment approaches have been used in this population. Most suppress binge eating in the short term, and some seem promising in the long term as well. However, sustained weight loss remains a largely unrealized goal. More recently, BED treatment programs have attempted to address these goals sequentially or in combination. In either approach, it is clear that adopting a long-term focus and promoting enhanced self-acceptance, which have so often been missing from these patients' previous attempts at recovery, are important tasks of treatment that are likely to lead to beneficial lifestyle changes and long-term improvements in physical and psychological health.