Interpersonal psychotherapy for teenage obesity

Teenage obesity is a growing problem. Weight gain can be caused by binge eating so if this can be reduced or prevented weight gain could be halted or even reversed. Researchers at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences and the National Institute of Health have been looking at a treatment called Interpersonal Psychotherapy (IPT). The aim of the treatment is to improve interpersonal relationships by targeting the underlying social and interpersonal difficulties that lead people to binge eat. Interpersonal psychotherapy has been shown to help depressed adults and children and to reduce binge eating in adults. In the study 38 girls, some of whom were binge eaters, were either given interpersonal psychotherapy or standard health-education classes. The girls who received interpersonal psychotherapy were more likely to stabilize or reduce their BMI compared to those who received the health-education classes.

You can find out more about this research at

http://psychcentral.com/news/2009/12/16/therapy-helps-teens-control-weight/10213.html