Psychological treatment of binge eating and bulimia nervosa

Abstract

In the United States a wide range of different psychological methods are used to treat binge eating and bulimia nervosa. These include various psychodynamic therapies (Tobin, 1993), different family therapies (Schwartz, Barrett & Saba, 1985), cognitive-behavioral therapy (Fairburn, Agras & Wilson, 1992), feminist approaches (Fallon, Katzman & Wooley, 1994), and methods derived from a 12-step model of binge eating as a form of addiction (Wilson, 1993). It is probably fair to say that the choice of treatment primarily reflects the theoretical predilections and training of individual practitioners or the broader setting in which they work. Of this panoply of treatments, only cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), and to a much lesser extent interpersonal psychotherapy (IPT), have been systematically evaluated in controlled clinical research.