Assistant Professor of Psychology Dr. Evan Forman recently opened the Behavioral Weight Loss Program. The Program was formed to develop and study innovations in behavioral interventions for weight loss and maintenance.

According to Forman, current state-of-the-art behavioral weight loss programs generally achieve moderate short-term success and minimal-to-no long-term success. Maintaining participants’ motivation and adherence over time, especially in the absence of high-intensity reinforcement, such as dramatic changes in weight appearance and praise from others, is difficult.

“To address these difficulties, the Behavioral Weight Loss Program has developed an innovated model of the standard behavioral treatment, based on principles from a new type of cognitive-behavioral therapy called Acceptance and Commitment Therapy,” said Forman. “This therapy has shown great promise in the treatment of nicotine addiction, chronic pain and anxiety disorders.”

Forman is preparing a study to evaluate the new behavioral program for weight loss. Forman, psychology faculty Drs. Meghan Butryn, Michael Lowe, and James Herbert, and graduate student Kimberly Hoffman, are the project’s investigators and will study overweight adults in the surrounding community and Drexel students, faculty and staff volunteers at no cost. Recruitment begins the first week of October. For more information, email weightloss@drexel.edu, call 215-762-2254, or visit www.drexel.edu/coas/psychology/weightloss.