Longitudinal Residential Eating Disorder Treatment Outcomes for Binge‐Eating Disorder When Using the Unified Treatment Model

OBJECTIVE: Despite its prevalence, research on binge-eating disorder (BED) outcomes for residential treatment remains limited. To address this research scarcity, we evaluated changes in ED behaviors and comorbid symptoms, including depression and anxiety, for patients with BED that received residential eating disorder (ED) care from a transdiagnostic ED treatment organization in the United States at the time of admission, discharge, and 6 months following discharge from treatment. METHOD: Participants were 168 female-identifying patients diagnosed with BED at the time of admission to ED residential treatment. Patients completed measures of ED, anxiety, and depressive symptoms at admission, discharge, and 6 months following residential treatment. They also reported the number of binge-eating episodes over the past 28 days at each time point. RESULTS: Using linear mixed model analyses to compare changes in symptoms across the three time points, results revealed a statistically significant decrease in ED, anxiety, and depressive symptoms and binge-eating behaviors from admission to discharge (Cohen's dz = 1.36, 1.04, 1.06, and 0.37, respectively) and from admission to 6-month follow-up (Cohen's dz = 0.64, 2.80, 0.86, and 0.16, respectively). There was a statistically significant rebound in symptoms from discharge to 6-month follow-up for ED (Cohen's dz = -0.59) and anxiety symptoms (Cohen's dz = -1.37) and binge-eating behaviors (Cohen's dz = -0.69), but not for depressive symptoms (Cohen's dz = -0.13). DISCUSSION: While partial symptom resurgence occurred for most symptoms at the 6-month follow-up time point, scores remained statistically lower than admission scores. These findings highlight that residential treatment may be effective for treating patients with BED, but direct comparisons with conditions are required.