Acceptance and commitment therapy as a treatment for a Latina young adult woman with purging: A case report.

Abstract

Purging disorder (PD) is a new category of eating disorder, which is characterized by inappropriate compensatory behavior occurring in the absence of binging. There has been increasing evidence that acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) may be an effective treatment for individuals with a range of maladaptive disordered eating concerns, including purging. The present case report shows therapeutic processes, course, and outcomes of a Latina woman with PD who participated in 10 weekly individual sessions of ACT. The weekly average number of self-induced vomiting episodes was 5.0 at pretreatment, 1.1 during treatment, and 0 at both a 3-month follow-up and a 12-month follow-up. Additionally, body image flexibility, an open and flexible way of relating and responding to negative body image, increased throughout the course of treatment and continued to increase at follow-up. Implications for future research and clinical practice of ACT for PD are discussed.

Improvement in Patients’ Ability to Care for Anxiety and Impaired Body Image: A Case Report of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and Family Psychoeducation

“…This occurrence may be influenced by the clinical condition of the illness suffered and the relatively short follow-up time. The implementation of ACT for patients with eating disorders showed a decrease in symptoms and improvement in body image at 3 and 12 months follow-up after ACT (Masuda et al, 2016).…”

“…Research has shown clinical improvement in anxiety disorders after ACT during an 8-month follow-up (Codd, Twohig, Crosby, & Enno, 2011). ACT can also improve the response to body image of patients with eating disorders (Masuda, Ng, Moore, Felix, & Drake, 2016), lowering dissatisfaction with body image and attitude maladaptation after a 1 month followup (Walloch, 2015).…”