Aggression Regulation in Day Treatment of Eating Disorders: Two-Centre RCT of a Brief Body and Movement-Oriented Intervention

ObjectiveThe objective is to evaluate a body and movement-oriented intervention on aggression regulation, specifically aimed towards reducing anger internalization in patients with an eating disorder. MethodPatients were randomized to treatment-as-usual (TAU) plus the intervention (n=38) or to TAU only (n=32). The intervention was delivered by a psychomotor therapist. TAU consisted of multidisciplinary day treatment (3-5days per week during 3-9months). Anger coping (Self-Expression and Control Scale) and eating pathology (Eating Disorder Examination-Self-report Questionnaire) were measured at baseline and follow-up. Differences between pre-intervention and post-intervention scores were tested by using repeated measures ANOVA. ResultsThe intervention group showed a significantly larger decrease of anger internalization than the control group ((2)=0.16, p=0.001). Both groups showed a significant reduction in eating pathology, but differences between groups were not significant. DiscussionA body and movement-oriented therapy seems a viable add-on for treating anger internalization in patients with an eating disorder. Copyright (c) 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and Eating Disorders Association.