Two year follow-up of bulimia nervosa: The importance of abstinence as the criterion of outcome

Abstract

The goal of this pilot follow-up study was to implement operationally defined criteria to classify outcome status of female patients with a DSM-111-R diagnosis of bulimia nervosa 2 years after completion of an intensive group treatment program (N = 43). Specifically, the importance of abstinence from bulimic behaviors as a marker of well-being was investigated. Repeated measures analysis of variance revealed that across most measures of psychopathology, scores for patients who were totally abstinent of hinging and purging were found to be significantly lower than even mildly symptomatic patients (p <.05). A secondary goal of the study was to extend the results of an earlier evaluation of the treatment program by reporting posttreatment results on a larger sample of bulimic patients (N = 86). Overall, the results suggest that a behavioral criterion of abstinence from hinging and purging is critical for the assessment of treatment response and long-term outcome status in bulimia nervosa. © 1992 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.