Treatment effects on compulsive exercise and physical activity in eating disorders.

Dysfunctional thoughts- and use of physical activity (PA) are core symptoms of the eating disorders (ED) bulimia nervosa (BN) and binge eating disorder (BED). The compulsive desire for PA complicates a favourable treatment outcome; hence, regular, adapted PA led by personnel with competence in exercise science is rarely part of treatment of BN and BED. The present study compared cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) with a new treatment combining physical exercise and dietary therapy (PED-t) with respect to the short- and long-term changes in the level of compulsive exercise and actual level of PA in women with BN or BED.