Exposure with response prevention treatment of anorexia nervosa-bulimic subtype and bulimia nervosa

Binge exposure with response-prevention of bingeing (ERP-B) was evaluated in 20 female Ss within an inpatient eating disorders unit over 9 sessions as an adjunct to standard milieu therapy. Subjects met DSM-III-R criteria for either bulimia nervosa (BN) (n = 13) or the bulimic subtype of anorexia nervosa (AN-B) (n = 7). The average age of the Ss in each group was 26.5 (±8.8) and 24.1 (±6.0) yr, respectively. Results indicate significant within-session and pre-post treatment effects in self-report measures ‘urge to binge’, ‘lack of control’, ‘feelings of guilt’ and ‘tension’. Further analysis revealed that the AN-B subgroup had significantly greater reduction in ‘depression’ and ‘urge to vomit’ compared to the BN group. This study provides preliminary evidence that ERP-B deserves further investigation with long-term follow-up in both BN and AN-B patients and may be particularly advantageous in the AN-B subpopulation.