Body image dissatisfaction is a source of significant distress among non-eating-disordered women, but because it is subclinical it is generally not treated. It remains stable throughout adulthood, and has proven resistant to many prevention interventions. This study presents a pilot test of a practical alternative: a 1-day Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) workshop targeting body dissatisfaction and disordered eating attitudes. Women with body dissatisfaction (N = 73) were randomly assigned to the workshop or to a wait list. Participants in both conditions also completed appetite awareness self-monitoring of hunger and satiety. After a brief 2-week follow-up, wait-list participants were also offered the workshop. Eating attitudes, body anxiety, and preoccupation with eating, weight, and shape improved in both arms of the study following the workshop. Participants in the ACT group showed significant reductions in body-related anxiety and significant increases in acceptance when compared to the wait-list control condition. ACT presented as a brief workshop intervention may be applicable for a broad range of women experiencing disordered eating attitudes and distress related to eating and body image; however, larger studies with longer follow-ups are needed.
Body image dissatisfaction, the negative evaluation of weight and shape (American Psychiatric Association, 2000), is a defining feature and predictor of relapse in anorexia and bulimia (Keel, Dorer, Franko, Jackson, & Herzog, 2005), but also predicts pervasive distress among women who do not have a formal eating disorder. Within this nonclinical group, body image dissatisfaction has been associated with higher Body Mass Indexes (McLaren et al., 2003 and Tiggerman and Lynch, 2001), disordered eating such as bingeing, purging, and chronic dieting (Lewis and Cachelin, 2001, Mintz and Betz, 1988 and Tylka, 2004), higher levels of depression (Niemeier, 2004), anxiety (Bennett & Stevens, 1996), lower self-esteem (Grossbard, Lee, Neighbors, & Larimer, 2009), and overall a poorer quality of life (Ganem & Morera, 2009). Body image dissatisfaction within non-eating-disorder samples has been shown to remain stable across age cohorts from women in their 20 s to those in their 60 s (Bennett & Stevens; Lewis & Cachelin; Tiggerman & Lynch).
