A DOUBLE-BLIND PLACEBO-CONTROLLED COMPARISON OF PHENELZINE AND IMIPRAMINE IN THE TREATMENT OF BULIMIA IN ATYPICAL DEPRESSIVES

Although antidepressants have been found to be superior to placebo in 12 of 14 studies, the relationship between improvement in the depressi ve diathesis and bulimia is unclear. In this study, the efficacy of pl acebo, imipramine, and phenelzine is examined in patients comorbid for atypical depression and bulimia. Greater improvement was observed for both depressive and bulimic symptoms with phenelzine than with either imipramine or placebo. Consistent with its poor antidepressant effect s in atypical depression, imipramine seemed to have minimal efficacy f or the bulimic symptoms of atypical depressives. These data suggest th at the presence of bulimia does not alter the treatment response of at ypically depressed patients. Furthermore, the data may suggest a link between depression and bulimia in atypical depressives. Demonstrating a statistical difference with a small sample suggests the effect size is robust, however conclusions are limited by a small sample size. (C) 1994 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.