Bulimia Nervosa (BN) is a kind of chronic refractory mental disorder with high prevalence and relapse rate, which would cause serious damage to physical and mental health. Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) is an internationally effective and evidence-based therapy for BN patients. Previous studies have found that DBT group therapy can significantly improve the core symptoms of BN patients. Our research group has conducted DBT group therapy for BN, and found that after 12 weeks of treatment, the frequencies of binge eating and purging behavior of BN patients were significantly reduced. However, with the high cost of ground-based group therapy and low coverage, it is difficult to promote the G-DBT(Group Dialectical Behavioral Therapy) for BN, considering the shortage of mental health resource in China. Besides, videoconferencing-based psychotherapy has gradually emerged in recent years. However, there is still a lack of clinical studies on the videoconferencing-based G-DBT for BN at home and abroad to confirm its efficacy and feasibility. Therefore, this study intends to use a randomized controlled study by randomly allocating BN patients into videoconferencing-based G-DBT group and traditional G-DBT group for 12 weeks. By comparing the changes of core symptoms and psychological characteristics of BN patients before and after treatment, this study aims to illustrate the efficacy and feasibility of videoconferencing-based G-DBT is no less than traditional G-DBT.
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
NONE
Enrollment
120
Online G-DBT is an adapted version of G-DBT delivered via video-conference. The specific design of G-DBT is the same as traditional face-to-face G-DBT. It also consists of 12 sessions, which is conducted weekly and lasts for 120 minutes. There are two therapists in charge of the therapy.
The G-DBT consists of 12 sessions, each lasting 120 minutes, and is held once a week. Two DBT therapists lead the patients to learn mindfulness skills, emotion regulation skills, pain tolerance skills, and interpersonal effectiveness skills. The aim is to help the patients reduce binge eating and harmful behaviors by regulating their emotions. Each sessions is conducted in a face-to-face way, in the psychological therapy room of the outpatient clinic in Shanghai Mental Health Center.
Shanghai Mental Health Center
Shanghai, China
Changes of binge eating and purging episodes from baseline
Measured by Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire (EDE-Q, item 13 and 15). Core pathological behaviors of BN patients.
Time frame: Baseline, week 12 (end of the treatment), week 16 and week 24
Change of disordered eating from baseline
Measured by the total scores of EDE-Q and scores of its four subscales.
Time frame: Baseline, week 12 (end of the treatment), week 16 and week 24
Changes of eating disorder related cognitive and behavioral characteristics
Measured by EDI(Eating Disorder Inventory), which consists of 8 subscales, 91 items.
Time frame: Baseline, week 12 (end of the treatment), week 16 and week 24
Change of impulse control ability
Measured by Barratt Impulsiveness Scale Version 11 (BIS-11), which consists of 3 dimension, 26 items. Higher scores represent stronger impulse.
Time frame: Baseline, week 12 (end of the treatment), week 16 and week 24
Change of depression level
Measured by Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-II), of which higher scores show deeper depression.
Time frame: Baseline, week 12 (end of the treatment), week 16 and week 24
Change of anxiety level
Measured by Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI). Higher scores show deeper anxiety.
Time frame: Baseline, week 12 (end of the treatment), week 16 and week 24
Change of emotion regulation ability
Measured by Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS-16), which includes 16 items that falls into 5 factors.
Time frame: Baseline, week 12 (end of the treatment), week 16 and week 24
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