Prognostic factors in outpatient psychotherapy of bulimia.
Little is known about prognostic factors in the treatment of bulimic patients. In the context of an ongoing study we looked at 1-year symptomatic outcome of 37 outpatients fulfilling DSM-III-R criteria for bulimia nervosa in relation to a variety of measures at first assessment. These included multiple measures of depression, measures of borderline personality disorder, a personality inventory, a symptom checklist and information about the history and the severity of the illness. Results add evidence to the importance of personality variables in predicting outcome: patients with high scores on the Borderline Syndrome Index indicating a severe disturbance tend to have poorer symptomatic outcome, especially when they also experience themselves as dominant (Giessen-Test). Other factors, including abuse of alcohol and history of anorexia did not allow prediction of outcome.
Herzog
T
T
Department of Psychotherapy and Psychosomatic Medicine, University of Freiburg, FRG.
Hartmann
A
A
Sandholz
A
A
Stammer
H
H
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000553:Ambulatory Care; D002032:Bulimia / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000628:therapy; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D010554:Personality Disorders / Q000628:therapy; D011336:Probability; D011379:Prognosis; D011613:Psychotherapy; D011615:Psychotherapy, Group