Self-monitoring and the assessment of binge eating

Thirty women diagnosed with either bulimia nervosa (BN) or binge eating disorder (BED) kept continuous prospective records of their food intake without receiving additional simultaneous treatment. Compared with the frequency of binge eating assessed during initial structured interviews, participants showed a substantial decrease in their frequency of binge eating during self-monitoring. Average binge-eating frequency fell from 0.91 to 0.40 binge episodes per day, t(29) = 5.04,p less than or equal to .001. Participants with both disorders reduced their binge eating at similar rates. Half of all participants with BED and 16.6% of those with BN ceased to meet DSM-IV binge-eating frequency criteria for their disorder during the self-monitoring phase. Of participants with BED, 27.8% were abstinent from binge eating during self-monitoring. These findings suggest that self-monitoring of food intake may substantially reduce binge eating in women with bulimia nervosa or binge eating disorder.