Emotion-based psychotherapy a promising treatment for women with PTSD, eating disorders | VAntage...

A new study exploring how PTSD may impact treatment outcomes for women with eating disorders suggests an emotion-based psychotherapy is a promising treatment for patients with or without PTSD.

The psychotherapy, known as the Unified Treatment Model (UTM), addresses problems with emotions that are relevant to many mental disorders. It helps patients improve motivation to engage in both PTSD and eating disorder treatment, to become aware of their emotions without labeling them as “good” or “bad,” to think more openly, to reduce avoidance of negative emotions, and to tolerate the physiological aspects of emotions, such as sweating and increased heart rate.

The UTM also focuses on learning to accept the shape of one’s own body and on exposure to feared or forbidden foods.

Mitchell is affiliated with the Women’s Health Sciences Division at the National Center for PTSD.
Mitchell is affiliated with the Women’s Health Sciences Division at the National Center for PTSD. (Photo by Win Danielson)

Study included nearly 3,000 patients at eating disorder facility
Dr. Karen Mitchell, a clinical psychologist at the VA Boston Healthcare System, led the study. She’s affiliated with the Women’s Health Sciences Division at the National Center for PTSD. Nearly 3,000 patients who were treated with the Unified Treatment Model at The Renfrew Center eating disorder facility in Philadelphia agreed to let Mitchell and her team access their data.

Through the data, the researchers investigated whether PTSD diagnosis at admission was linked to changes in eating disorder examination scores, binge eating, self-induced vomiting, and eating restrictions across three time points, as well as clinically significant improvement and treatment dropout. According to the findings, 65% of the patients showed improvement in symptoms from admission to discharge, based on their eating disorder examination questionnaire scores.

“Although PTSD diagnoses were associated with higher eating disorder symptom levels at admission, PTSD was not associated with worse treatment outcomes, suggesting the UTM is a promising treatment for patients with and without PTSD,” the researchers write. “Future studies should investigate the impact of eating disorder treatment on PTSD symptoms in order to determine the need for integrated treatments for these comorbid conditions.”