Bulimia Nervosa: Treatments

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)

a) description: CBT can be described as a short-term psycho-therapeutic treatment. The goal of this therapy is to teach patients to deal or cope with things that negatively affect their behavior and life. In order to do this, a therapist helps him to identify the problematic beliefs.

b) when it is likely to be used:

The Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is commonly used to treat Bulimia Nervosa. Even its efficacy is pretty high, it's still has some significant limitations. There is a still a large number of patients for whom CBT is ineffective.

c) when it is not likely to be used:

Bulimia Nervosa such as any other disorder has several stages. In high stages when a patient starves himself to death, hospitalization which is a last resort is used instead of CBT.

Interpersonal Therapy (IPT)

a) description: IPT is a time-limited treatment lasting usually from 12-16 weeks. The therapist is constantly working with a patient. First, he/she identifies patient's problem and then he tries to help him. The therapy has three different stages. Thanks to the therapy, patients learn new interpersonal skills.Once again, the goal is to help a patient identify his/her problems. The therapy does not directly focus on bulimic symptoms.

b) when it is likely to be used:

It's effective for clients who are stuck in Bulimia Nervosa due to their problematic relationships.

c) when it is not likely to be used: Similarly as with CBT, a patient who is in a critical stage is most likely to be hospitalized. Therefore, Interpersonal Therapy would be, in this case,  inappropriate.

Antidepressants 

a) description: Their main function is to regulate brain chemicals that affect mood. They not only keep emotions stable, but they also have an ability to reduce frequency of binging and purging. The most common antidepressants that are used for curing bulimia are Fluoxetine (Prozac) functioning as selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitor and different kinds of tricyclics.

b) when it is likely to be used:

They are most effective when they are used with several therapies such as CBT or IPT. According to statistics, antidepressants help to reduce binging and purging in up to 75% patients.

c) when it is not likely to be used:

Children suffering from bulimia nervosa are not allowed to used antidepressants mentioned above as they may be harmful.

Hospitalization

a) description: A patient who goes to the hospital  for treatment requiring at least one overnight stay.

b) when it is likely to be used:

Hospitalization is used when: the body fat of a patient is lower than 10%, systolic pressure is lower than 90, heart rate is lower than 50 per minute daytime and 45 per minute nighttime and lastly when weight is smaller than 75% of the estimated body weight. It's considered to be the last resort!

c) when it is not likely to be used:

Hospitalization is not recommended when the above criteria are not met.