Acceptance and commitment therapy for the treatment of body image dissatisfaction and maladaptive eating attitudes and behaviors in gay men: A pilot study

Research indicates that many gay men experience more frequent and severe body image dissatisfaction, than straight males, which often results in higher levels of disturbances in dieting (Andersen, 1999; Hospers & Jansen, 2005; Levesque & Vichesky, 2006; Tylka & Andorka, 2012). Much of the current research in the field regarding interventions and treatment of eating pathology involves women. Due to the paucity of treatment outcome research targeting gay males with these struggles, this pilot dissertation study evaluated the effectiveness of a 1-day workshop intervention employing Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) for adult gay men who struggle with body image dissatisfaction and maladaptive eating attitudes and behaviors. The goals of this pilot intervention were to reduce preoccupation with body image and diet and to broaden these men's lives by improving overall psychological flexibility.;Twenty-four racially diverse gay men between the ages of 22 and 40 (with a mean age of 28) were recruited from the Greater San Francisco Bay Area. Participants completed several outcome and process of change measures prior to starting the intervention, immediately following the workshop, and at the 1-month follow-up. It was hypothesized that the ACT workshop intervention would decrease body image dissatisfaction and maladaptive eating attitudes and behaviors, while also improving psychological flexibility. Results from the linear mixed-effects regression models revealed that there were overall significant decreases over time in preoccupation in body image dissatisfaction, disordered eating symptomatology, thought suppression, and experiential avoidance. It was also predicted that changes in body image dissatisfaction, maladaptive eating attitudes, and behaviors would be affected by process of change variables of psychological flexibility, as covariates, over time. Results from the conditional change mixed-effects model revealed a significant overall relationship between thought suppression, general experiential acceptance, body image acceptance, and body image dissatisfaction, in addition to a significant relationship between these variables of psychological flexibility and disordered eating symptomatology. Results of this pilot study provide preliminary evidence that an ACT workshop may be effective for treating gay men who struggle with body image dissatisfaction and maladaptive eating attitudes and behaviors.