Group motivation-focused interventions for patients with obesity and binge eating disorder

Lack of exercise and overeating/unhealthy eating are the main causes of the worldwide escalating global epidemic of overweight and obesity (Pietrabissa et al., 2012)—as defined as a body mass index (BMI) over 30 (Spiegelman and Flier, 2001). The consequences of excess weight range from serious negative health outcomes, to increased risk of premature death. Obese persons—especially those seeking weight loss treatment (Brennan et al., 2014)—also demonstrate high rates of psychopathology, including mood disorders (i.e., depression, anxiety and low self-esteem) (Luppino et al., 2010) and eating disorders (i.e., binge eating disorder—BED; Succurro et al., 2015). These result in significantly impaired health-related quality of life (Slagter et al., 2015; Afshin et al., 2017) and loss of productivity (Fontaine and Barofsky, 2001; Robroek et al., 2011). Obesity and its associated problems also have a growing economic impact on the health care system (Hammond and Levine, 2010; Castelnuovo et al., 2016).