Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy And Exposure With Response Prevention In T

Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy And Exposure With Response Prevention In The Treatment Of Bulimia Nervosa Bulimia nervosa is an eating disorder with psychological, physiological, developmental, and cultural components. The disorder is commonly characterized by binge eating followed by inappropriate compensatory behaviors, such as self-induced vomiting, excessive exercise, fasting, and the misuse of diuretics, laxatives or enemas. Patients properly diagnosed with bulimia nervosa endure many psychological and physiological problems. In order to alleviate these problems for the patient, usually some type of intervention is required. Considering the financial costs to the patient who seeks treatment, it is important to identify effective and efficient treatment programs. Due to the wide variety of individual patient differences, it would be unwise to proclaim one treatment method as the universal cure for bulimia nervosa. However, identifying what methods work under particular conditions may help therapists tailor an individualized treatment program after a careful assessme nt of the client. Having this knowledge would potentially save both the client and the therapist a lot of time and frustration; not to mention, the patient would be on the path to recovery sooner. Kaye et al (1999) stress the importance of making progress towards the understanding and treatment of anorexia and bulimia nervosa, in order to generate more specific and effective psychotherapies and pharmacologic interventions. In this paper, I will present my analysis of two methods used to treat bulimia nervosa. The first method is cognitive-behavioral therapy for bulimia nervosa; this method is quite popular among psychologist... ...ing in bulimia nervosa: A crossover study. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 177, 259-266. Sloan, D. M., & Mizes, J. S. (1999). Foundations of behavior therapy in the contemporary healthcare context. Clinical Psychology Review, 19, 255-274. Spangler, D. L. (1999). Cognitive-behavioral therapy for bulimia nervosa: An illustration Journal of Clinical Psychology, 55, 699-713. Steel, Z. P., Farag, P. A., & Blaszczynski, A. P. (1995). Interrupting the binge-purge cycle in bulimia: The use of planned binges. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 18, 199-208. Vaz, F. J. (1998). Outcome of bulimia nervosa: Prognostic indicators. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 45, 391-400. Walsh, B. T., & Devlin, M. J. (1998). Eating disorders: Progress and problems. Science, 280, 1387-1390.