title: Does avoidant personality disorder impact on the outcome of treatment for bulimia nervosa?
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To examine the impact of avoidant personality disorder (AVPD) on bulimia nervosa (BN) treatment outcome over 3 years.
  
  
  METHODS
  Women with BN were participating in a randomized treatment trial. The sample was split into: AVPD (n = 37), other PD (n = 37), and no PD (n = 60). Eating disorder symptomatology, depressive symptoms and psychosocial functioning were examined at pretreatment and follow-up. Multiple regression was conducted to control for high axis I comorbidity.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There were no significant differences across the groups at pretreatment or follow-up on eating disorder symptoms. AVPD had worse depressive symptoms and psychosocial functioning at pretreatment which continued 3 years post-treatment. Multiple regression analyses revealed that the presence of any lifetime mood disorder contributed to these significant results.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These findings suggest AVPD is not a significant predictor of BN outcome. However, AVPD is associated with poorer psychiatric symptoms although much of this variance appears to be attributable to the lifetime presence of any mood disorder.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychological Medicine, University of Otago, Christchurch, New Zealand. sarah.rowe@otago.ac.nz
authors.forename: Sarah L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Rowe
authors.forename: Jennifer
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Jordan
authors.forename: Virginia V W
authors.initials: VV
authors.lastname: McIntosh
authors.forename: Frances A
authors.initials: FA
authors.lastname: Carter
authors.forename: Chris
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Frampton
authors.forename: Cynthia M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Bulik
authors.forename: Peter R
authors.initials: PR
authors.lastname: Joyce
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D052018:Bulimia Nervosa / Q000150:complications* / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D015928:Cognitive Behavioral Therapy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D010554:Personality Disorders / Q000150:complications* / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy; D012044:Regression Analysis; D016896:Treatment Outcome