A pilot study on the effect of Basic Body Awareness Therapy in patients with eating disorders: a randomized controlled trial

Objective: To analyse the feasibility of Basic Body Awareness Therapy in people with eating disorders. Design: A randomized controlled trial; the assessors were not blinded to the group allocation. Setting: The eating disorders department within a hospital setting. Subjects: Twenty-eight outpatients with eating disorders for less than five years. Intervention: All patients received standard outpatient treatment. The intervention group (n = 14) also received Basic Body Awareness Therapy for seven weeks. Main measures: Eating Disorder Inventory, Eating Attitude Test, Body Attitude Test and Quality of Life Scale SF-36. Results: Analysing the differences between both groups, significant differences were found in Eating Disorder Inventory (mean difference: 26.3; P = 0.015) and in its subscales 'drive to thinness' (P = 0.003), 'body dissatisfaction' (P = 0.025) and 'ineffectiveness' (P = 0.014). Also in Body Attitude Test (mean difference: 33.0; P = 0.012), Eating Attitude Test-40 (mean difference: 17.7; P = 0.039) and SF-36 in the section 'mental health' (mean difference: 13.0; P = 0.002). Conclusions: This study has shown some effectiveness of Basic Body Awareness Therapy in improving some symptoms in outpatients with eating disorders. Further studies should include larger samples, double-blinded and placebo methodologies, and should focus on questions such as which eating disorder diagnoses benefit most from physical therapy.