Therapy review found moderately lower body dissatisfaction
Acceptance and commitment therapy reduced body-dissatisfaction scores versus controls across pooled studies. The abstract does not establish lasting improvements or prevention of eating disorders.
Based on the published abstract. The full paper may contain additional methods, results and limitations.
The 30-second takeaway
Across the included studies, acceptance and commitment therapy produced lower body-dissatisfaction scores than control conditions at intervention end. The authors described the pooled difference as medium. This finding concerns how participants felt about their bodies; it does not establish eating-disorder recovery, prevention of future illness or benefits that continue after therapy.
Average dropout from therapy interventions was 23.51%. The abstract leaves control treatments and longer-term outcomes unclear; the authors call for larger trials involving more diverse populations.
What researchers found
Body dissatisfaction
At intervention end, therapy versus controls: g = 0.556 (95% CI 0.35 to 0.77). This measures the difference in standard-deviation units; the authors called it medium. The confidence interval indicates uncertainty around the estimated difference.
The measured outcome
The outcome was dissatisfaction with one’s body, measured at intervention end. A lower score on this outcome does not itself demonstrate eating-disorder recovery or prevention of future illness.
Subgroups do not rank formats
Subgroups included people at elevated eating-disorder risk and participants using online self-help. Larger reported subgroup effects alone do not establish which delivery format works best for an individual.
The original publication
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for Body Dissatisfaction: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.
Boyle S, Dorfan N, Sepehry AA
J Clin Psychol · 2025
- PubMed ID
- 40748001
- Record checked
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