Objective. To examine whether cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) alleviates dysfunctional eating (DE) patterns and symptoms of anxiety and depression in morbidly obese patients planned for bariatric surgery. Design and Methods. A total of 98 (68 females) patients with a mean (SD) age of 43 (10) years and BMI 43.5 (4.9) kg/m2 were randomly assigned to a CBT-group or a control group receiving usual care (i.e., nutritional support and education). The CBT-group received ten weekly intervention sessions. DE, anxiety, and depression were assessed by the TFEQ R-21 and HADS, respectively. Results. Compared with controls, the CBT-patients showed significantly less DE, affective symptoms, and a larger weight loss at follow-up. The effect sizes were large (DE-cognitive restraint, g = −.92, P ≤ .001; DE-uncontrolled eating, g = −.90, P ≤ .001), moderate (HADS-depression, g = −.73, P ≤ .001; DE-emotional eating, g = −.67, P ≤ .001; HADS-anxiety, g = −.62, P = .003), and low (BMI, g = −.24, P = .004). Conclusion. This study supports the use of CBT in helping patients preparing for bariatric surgery to reduce DE and to improve mental health. This clinical trial is registered with NCT01403558.

Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier: NCT01403558.

BackgroundTo examine whether a preoperative cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) intervention exceeds usual care in the improvements of dysfunctional eating behaviours, mood, affective symptoms and body weight 1 year after bariatric surgery.MethodsThis is a 1-year follow-up of a single centre parallel-group randomised controlled trial (http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT01403558). A total of 80 (55 females) patients mean (SD) age 44 (10) years were included. The intervention group received 10 weeks of CBT prior to bariatric surgery, and the control group received nutritional support and education. Both groups were assessed at baseline (T0), post CBT intervention/preoperatively (T1), and 1 year postoperatively (T2). Using a mixed modelling statistical approach, we examined if the CBT group improved more across time than the control group.ResultsOur hypothesis was not supported as both groups had comparable improvements in all outcomes except for anxiety symptoms. Body weight declined by 30.2 % (37.3 kg) in the CBT group and by 31.2 % (40.0 kg) in the control group from baseline to follow-up, p = 0.82.There were statistically significant reductions in anxiety and depression symptoms in the CBT group between T0 and T1 and between T1 and T2 for depression only. However, in the control group, the anxiety score did not change significantly. The CBT group showed an earlier onset of improvements in all eating behaviours and affective symptoms than the control group.ConclusionThe 10-week CBT intervention showed beneficial effects preoperatively, but the non-significant group differences postoperatively indicate a genuine effect of surgery.

Objective: To examine the relationships between dysfunctional eating patterns, personality, anxiety and depression in morbidly obese patients accepted for bariatric surgery. Design: The study used cross-sectional data collected by running a randomized controlled trial (http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT01403558). Subjects: A total of 102 patients (69 women, 33 men) with a mean (SD) age of 42.6 (9.8) years and a mean BMI of 43.5 (4.4) kg/m² participated. Measurements: Measurements included the NEO-PI-R (personality: neuroticism, extroversion, openness, conscientiousness and agreeableness), the TFEQ-R-21 (dysfunctional eating: emotional eating (EE), uncontrolled eating (UE) and cognitive restraint of eating (CR)) and the HADS (anxiety and depression). Results: The personality traits neuroticism and conscientiousness were more strongly correlated with dysfunctional eating than anxiety and depression. These differences were most pronounced for emotional and cognitive restraint of eating. Emotional eating occurred more often in female than in male patients, a finding that was partially mediated by neuroticism but not by anxiety and depression. Conclusion: Personality traits may be important to address in the clinical management of morbidly obese patients seeking bariatric surgery as neuroticism is particularly salient in female patients displaying an emotional eating behaviour.