INTEGRATING COGNITIVE-BEHAVIORAL THERAPY INTO DIETETIC PRACTICE - A CHALLENGE FOR DIETITIANS

Historically, State Registered Dietitians have not received in-depth t raining in behaviour change skills. Training in this area has been vie wed as peripheral rather than fundamental. Whilst a permanent long-ter m cure for obesity remains elusive, cognitive behavioural therapy is s tate of the art in the treatment of obesity. It reliably achieves 10% pretreatment body weight loss in the short-term. Interesting new devel opments are occurring in this field which may affect longterm outcome favourably. This paper examines what can be achieved with traditional dietary therapy in the treatment of obesity, what can be achieved with cognitive behavioural therapy and considers whether dietitians should receive further training in key behaviour change theory and skills. I t is recommended that the integration of the fields of nutrition and b ehavioural psychology is placed centrally on the agenda of State Regis tered Dietitians.