TY - JOUR
T1 - A Comparison Study of Antidepressants and Structured Intensive Group Psychotherapy in the Treatment of Bulimia Nervosa
AU - Mitchell, James E.
AU - Pyle, Richard L.
AU - Eckert, Elke D.
AU - Hatsukami, Dorothy K
AU - Pomeroy, Claire
AU - Zimmerman, Robert
PY - 1990/2
Y1 - 1990/2
N2 - Previous research on the treatment of outpatients with bulimia nervosa has focused on two treatment strategies: (1) drug therapy, primarily using tricyclic antidepressants, and (2) psychotherapy, often employing behavioral and cognitive behaviorantechniques. We report here the short-term treatment outcome of a 12-week comparison trial of bulimic outpatients who were randomly assigned to one of four treatment cells: (1) imipramine hydrochloride treatment, (2) placebo treatment, (3) imipramine treatment combined with intensive group psychotherapy, and (4) placebo treatment combined with intensive group psychotherapy. All three active treatment cells resulted in significant reductions in target-eating behaviors and in a significant improvement in mood relative to placebo treatment. However, the results also suggested that the amount of improvement obtained with the intensive group psychotherapy component was superior to that obtained with antidepressant treatment alone. The addition of antidepressant treatment to the intensive group psychotherapy component did not significantly improve outcome over intensive group psychotherapy combined with placebo treatment in terms of eating behavior, but did result in more improvement in the symptoms of depression and anxiety.
AB - Previous research on the treatment of outpatients with bulimia nervosa has focused on two treatment strategies: (1) drug therapy, primarily using tricyclic antidepressants, and (2) psychotherapy, often employing behavioral and cognitive behaviorantechniques. We report here the short-term treatment outcome of a 12-week comparison trial of bulimic outpatients who were randomly assigned to one of four treatment cells: (1) imipramine hydrochloride treatment, (2) placebo treatment, (3) imipramine treatment combined with intensive group psychotherapy, and (4) placebo treatment combined with intensive group psychotherapy. All three active treatment cells resulted in significant reductions in target-eating behaviors and in a significant improvement in mood relative to placebo treatment. However, the results also suggested that the amount of improvement obtained with the intensive group psychotherapy component was superior to that obtained with antidepressant treatment alone. The addition of antidepressant treatment to the intensive group psychotherapy component did not significantly improve outcome over intensive group psychotherapy combined with placebo treatment in terms of eating behavior, but did result in more improvement in the symptoms of depression and anxiety.
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U2 - 10.1001/archpsyc.1990.01810140049008
DO - 10.1001/archpsyc.1990.01810140049008
M3 - Article
C2 - 2405806
AN - SCOPUS:0025174159
SN - 0003-990X
VL - 47
SP - 149
EP - 157
JO - Archives of General Psychiatry
JF - Archives of General Psychiatry
IS - 2
ER -