An obsessive-compulsive view of obesity and its treatment

It was hypothesized that some obese individuals who are obsessed with food and who eat compulsively may not respond to the stimulus control techniques widely used in treating obesity. Sixty-eight participants were administered a measure of obsessive tendencies and randomly assigned to three treatment modalities: (a) Exposure and response prevention; (b) Stimulus control; (c) Control. Results indicated that participants who scored high on the Eating Obsessive Compulsive questionnaire (EOC) maintained weight loss significantly better with exposure and response prevention (ERP) training than did either the stimulus control or the control group. It was concluded that for the obsessive-compulsive eater, ERP training is the treatment of choice.