Antidepressant treatment of bulimia: a two-year follow-up study

Follow-ups for periods of up to 2 years on 20 bulimic subjects treated with antidepressants are reported. At the time last seen in follow-up, 19 (95%) of the subjects had experienced at least a partial improvement in their bulimia, and 10 (50%) had experienced a complete remission of bulimic symptoms. In addition, most subjects displayed a marked reduction in depressive symptoms. This suggests that antidepressants do not merely reduce binge eating per se, but produce a more general therapeutic effect for bulimic patients. However, these promising findings must be tempered by the fact that antidepressant treatment is not always simple and may require extensive management over the long term.