A Multicenter Comparison of Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy and Interpersonal Psychotherapy for Bulimia Nervosa

Abstract

THE RESEARCH literature on the treatment of bulimia nervosa suggests that cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) is the most effective psychotherapeutic treatment for this common and frequently chronic condition.^1,2 Cognitive-behavioral therapy seems more effective compared with other forms of psychotherapy.^1,2 One exception is a study that found that CBT was not superior to a form of interpersonal psychotherapy (IPT) adapted for the treatment of bulimia nervosa.^3,4 Although IPT was inferior to CBT at the end of treatment, it did not differ from CBT at follow-up^3,4 because of continued improvement in the IPT group.⁴ This finding is important because, despite its slower action, IPT is the first psychotherapy to demonstrate effects equivalent to those of CBT in the treatment of bulimia nervosa. Hence, IPT may be a useful alternative to CBT in some circumstances.