Skills-based therapy may curb eating disorders

Women who suffer from bulimia or binge-eating disorder and who have borderline personality may be helped with "dialectical behaviour therapy," results of a pilot study suggest.
Dialectical behaviour therapy, or DBT, is a form of cognitive-behaviour therapy originally developed for women with borderline personality disorder - a disorder characterised by recurrent suicidal behaviour and multiple problem behaviours.
Standard DBT is a comprehensive, multi-component "life skills-based" treatment targeting behaviours that threaten a person's life and interfere with therapy and overall quality of life. DBT helps people be mindful of their emotions and regulate their emotions and tolerate life's ups and downs.
Dr Eunice Y. Chen from the University of Chicago, Illinois, and colleagues studied the impact of standard DBT, consisting of weekly skills group training, individual DBT, therapist consultation team meetings, and as-needed telephone coaching, in eight women with borderline personality disorder and either bulimia or binge-eating disorder.
Half of the women reported an emergency room visit for suicidal or self-injurious behaviour in the year prior to the study. Six of the eight women were currently on psychotropic medications.