Abstract
The study examined the effectiveness of Dialectical Behavior Therapy focused treatment on individuals diagnosed with Anorexia Nervosa and individuals diagnosed with Bulimia Nervosa receiving treatment in a partial hospitalization program. The study utilized archival data gathered from a local psychiatric hospital between the years of 2007 and 2011. The sample included 101 females ranging in age from 12 years to 68 years; 49 participants met diagnostic criteria for Anorexia Nervosa and 52 patients met diagnostic criteria for Bulimia Nervosa. A series of one-way repeated measures ANOVAs were conducted to compare the effects of DBT focused treatment on subscale scores of the Eating Disorder Inventory, third edition. Findings support the hypotheses that individuals diagnosed with AN and BN would demonstrate statistically significant behavioral and cognitive improvement following treatment. Additionally, findings indicate individuals diagnosed with BN showed the most improvement overall, supporting the main hypothesis that DBT focused treatment would prove to be more effective for individuals diagnosed with BN than AN. Results from this study demonstrate a change in both behavioral and psychological aspects of eating disorder behavior and add empirically-supported data on the use of DBT focused treatment with individuals diagnosed with AN and BN. Implications and future directions for research are also discussed.