Psychosocial and pharmacological treatment of eating disorders: A review of research findings

Research on the treatment of eating disorders has focused primarily on cogn itive-behavioral therapy (CBT) and, more recently, interpersonal psychother apy (IPT). Numerous studies have shown that CBT is helpful in reducing symp toms of bulimia nervosa and binge-eating disorder. In addition, CBT has bee n found to be superior or comparable to other psychotherapies in reducing b ulimic symptoms. Preliminary findings indicate that CBT and IPT produce sim ilar results at follow-up for bulimia nervosa and binge-eating disorder. An tidepressant medications are also useful in the treatment bf bulimia nervos a and binge-eating disorder, but are less likely to result in remission of symptoms than CBT. The results from comparison studies are inconsistent, wi th modest evidence that combining antidepressant medication and psychothera py produces greater improvement in bulimic symptoms. Limited research has b een conducted on the treatment of anorexia nervosa. although preliminary st udies suggest that psychotherapy and fluoxetine may be helpful in preventin g relapse after weight restoration. (C) 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.