Bing eating can cause significant distress and reduce the quality of almost every aspect of life, including physical health, mood, and interpersonal functioning. The symptoms can be chronic, and many are too ashamed to seek help.
Hope for Patients
When delivered by experts, CBT is considered the best treatment for these patients, but it can be expensive, difficult to access, and time-consuming. To address this, and in light of emerging evidence that self-help adaptations of CBT can be similarly effective, our team decided to look into treating these patients via a smartphone app that incorporates a trained coach: the Noom Monitor. We found that those who used the app had a higher incidence of adherence to their treatment program.
Encouraged by these results, we put together a treatment program using the app in conjunction with reading Overcoming Binge Eating, 2nd Ed over 12 weeks to target the most common factors that maintain binge eating. The patient works with his or her virtual coach, the adaptive tools in the app, and the self-help book to improve patterns of eating, reduce triggers to binge eating/purging, and improve body image. The program is now available through our Center of Excellence in Eating Disorders.
How to Activate the App
1. Call (212) 659-8724 or email ewdpresearch@mssm.edu to schedule a brief initial screening.
2. During the screening, we will assign a personal CBT coach and give you a password for the app.
3. Download the app and register with your password.
Resources and Further Reading
Handbook of Assessment and Treatment of Eating Disorders
“Evidence-based clinical guidelines for eating disorders: international comparison.”
Note: The app is currently available for Android phones via Google Play, and will be available soon for the iPhone and iPad via the Apple iTunes App Store.