COGNITIVE-BEHAVIORAL GROUP-PSYCHOTHERAPY OF BULIMIA-NERVOSA - IMPORTANCE OF LOGISTICAL VARIABLES

Although much of the psychotherapy for psychiatric disorders is conduc ted on a weekly basis, several researchers in the field of bulimia ner vosa have utilized a more intensive approach as a means to strengthen treatment effects. A second issue concerns the amount of emphasis that should be placed on encouraging the interruption of bulimic symptoms early in treatment. In the current study we systematically studied the se two issues. Subjects were randomly assigned to one of four forms of cognitive-behavioral group psychotherapy, the four cells differing on the variables of intensity and emphasis on abstinence. The results in dicate that a high intensity approach, an early abstinence approach, o r a combination of these two approaches are all significantly more eff ective in inducing remission in patients with bulimia nervosa compared with a weekly psychotherapy that uses the same manual-based cognitive -behavioral therapy approach. (C) 1993 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.