Does the overvaluation of shape and weight predict initial symptom severity or treatment outcome among patients with binge eating disorder?

Objective: To examine whether overvaluation of shape and weight is associated with initial symptom severity or treatment outcome among patients with binge eating disorder (BED). Method: Patients with BED (n = 116) completed assessments at baseline and treatment termination, including the Eating Disorder Examination (EDE) and self-report measures of eating-related cognitions and behaviors, depression, and self-esteem. Clinical overvaluation was determined by EDE. Results: The clinical overvaluation group demonstrated significantly higher pre-treatment scores on measures of depression, behavioral and cognitive aspects of binge eating, and eating-related psychopathology, and lower self-esteem scores than individuals without overvaluation. At treatment termination, patients with overvaluation continued to display elevated scores on measures of binge eating severity at a trend level. Discussion: Overvaluation of shape and weight was associated with symptom severity in patients with BED, but additional research is needed to determine whether this construct holds clinically useful predictive validity for treatment outcome.