Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Adolescents With Bulimia

Status

Completed

Phases

Study type

Interventional

Source

ClinicalTrials.gov

Registry ID

NCT00755391

Enrollment

Registered

2008-09-19

Start date

2008-02-29

Completion date

2010-02-28

Last updated

2012-10-26

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

Bulimia Nervosa

Keywords

BN and subthreshold BN

Brief summary

This pilot study will evaluate the effectiveness of individual cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and supportive psychotherapy (SP) in reducing bulimic symptoms among adolescents.

Detailed description

Patients will be randomized to have an equal chance of either receiving CBT or SP. Participants will include both individuals with DSM-IV bulimia nervosa (BN), and patients with sub-threshold BN. Adolescent patients will be treated at the New York State Psychiatric Institute, with a target recruitment of 20 patients completing the study. Participants in both conditions will be assessed prior to treatment and at the end of treatment. This trial is intended to serve as a pilot investigation to determine the feasibility and utility of a larger controlled study in this population.

Interventions

BEHAVIORALcognitive behavior therapy

The cognitive behavioral therapy used in this study will focus on developing patterns of regular eating, addressing body image issues, and ways to cope with situations that trigger eating disordered behaviors.

BEHAVIORALSupportive Psychotherapy

The supportive psychotherapy treatment used in this study will involve identifying issues underlying your child's eating disorder and giving your child information about the psychological processes that tend to maintain or continue eating disorder symptoms.

Study design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Intervention model

PARALLEL

Primary purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

NONE

Eligibility

Sex/Gender

ALL

Age

12 Years to 18 Years

Healthy volunteers

Inclusion criteria

1. Age between 12 and 18 2. DSM-IV diagnosis of bulimia nervosa or sub-threshold bulimia nervosa (binge eating and/or purging at least once per week)

Exclusion criteria

1. Diagnosis of bipolar disorder 2. Current psychosis 3. Drug or alcohol abuse in the past 3 months 4. Acute Suicidal Risk 5. Major depression producing significant functional impairment 6. Significant medical illness 7. Weight outside of normal weight range (between 85% and 120% of the 50th percentile for age as measured by standard growth charts)

Design outcomes

Primary

Measure	Time frame
Eating Disorder Examination scores	28 days

Countries

United States

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Data processed: Feb 4, 2026