Behavioral treatment of obesity: the current status

Area of Science:

• Behavioral science
• Clinical psychology
• Obesity treatment

Background:

• Behavioral approaches to obesity treatment emerged a decade ago.
• These methods have significantly influenced psychological treatments beyond obesity.
• They represent an improvement over traditional methods for mild to moderate obesity.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the effectiveness and limitations of behavioral therapy in obesity treatment.
• To explore potential strategies for enhancing the efficacy of behavioral interventions.
• To assess the promise of combining behavioral treatments with other modalities.

Main Methods:

• Review of research and clinical applications of behavioral therapy in obesity over the past ten years.
• Analysis of methodological advancements in psychological treatment research.
• Examination of recent efforts combining behavioral therapy with dietary and pharmacological interventions.

Main Results:

• Behavioral therapy offers significant improvements compared to traditional methods for mild and moderate obesity.
• Despite advancements, weight losses remain modest, with large unexplained variability.
• Long-term weight loss maintenance, a hoped-for benefit, has not been consistently established.
• Recent combined treatment approaches show promising preliminary results.

Conclusions:

• Behavioral therapy has advanced obesity treatment but has limited clinical significance due to modest outcomes.
• Enhancing behavioral treatments by combining them with dietary and pharmacological measures is a promising avenue.
• Further research into combined interventions is warranted to improve obesity management.