Pharmacotherapy of bulimia nervosa and binge eating disorder: longer-term outcomes

The longer-term effects of antidepressant medication, with and without the addition of psychotherapy, for the treatment of bulimia nervosa and binge eating disorder are reviewed. The use of a single antidepressant agent results in recovery of about 25 percent of patients entering treatment; continued treatment is accompanied by relapse in about one-third of these patients. Substituting one or more antidepressants for the initial agent in patients who fail to improve or cannot tolerate side effects improves long-term maintenance. Adding cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) may prevent relapse once medication is discontinued, and the combination of CBT and antidepressant treatment is more effective than a single medication. There is also evidence that antidepressant treatment combined with CBT is more effective than placebo plus CBT. The problem of how to sequence medication and CBT has not been resolved, although a recent study demonstrating that pharmacotherapy is more cost-effective than CBT suggests that treatment might begin with medication.