Psychological therapies are recommended for treatment of binge eating disorder (BED), and about half of those who receive treatment achieve a full and lasting recovery. Researchers at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience at King’s College, London, have reported positive results with a new home-administered treatment approach for patients with BED (BJPsych Open. 2024; doi: 10.1192/bjo.2024.54). The study paired variations of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) and attention bias modification training (AMBT) in 82 participants who were overweight or living with obesity, and who were diagnosed with BED.
As Dr. Michaela Flynn, Research Associate at King’s College and her coauthor, Professor Ulrike Schmidt, Professor of Eating Disorders at King’s College, reported, the study participants were divided into four groups, who received one of the following approaches: (1) 10 sessions of at-home self-administered tDCS during ABMT; (2) 10 sessions of sham tDCS with a headset that did not deliver electrical stimulation during ABMT; (3) 10 sessions of ABMT only, or (4) no treatment as they remained on a wait list for 8 weeks).
Greater losses among the combined treatment group
Participants in the real tDCS with ABMT group lost approximately 3.5 to 4 kg between the baseline measurements and six-week follow-up. Their mean BMI fell by 1.28 points. In comparison, over the same period, those who received ABMT with sham tDCS lost about 1.5 to 2 kg on average, and had a mean BMI loss of 0.52 points. Participants who received ABMT only had a very slight change in weight, and a mean loss of 0.07 points in their BMIs. There was no change in eating behavior or weight loss in the no-treatment group.
There was a substantial improvement in mood among the patients who received real tDCS with ABMT between baseline measurements and follow-up. No similar change in mood was reported in those who received sham tDCS with ABMT or in those who received ABMT only, and there was no change in mood in the no-treatment control group.
