The Effects of Family Therapy on Relapse Rates in Bulimia Nervosa Patients
Loading...
Authors
Bond, Gabriele
Issue Date
2006
Type
Thesis
Language
en_US
Keywords
Alternative Title
Abstract
Eating disorders are caused by many factors, not just the desire to be thin. There are
psychological issues that contribute to the development of eating disorders, which make
them difficult to recover from. Relapse rates within the first year after discharge from an
inpatient treatment center are high. A person's recovery is affected by factors such as the
duration of the illness and whether he/she has a support group. Parents often play an
important role in the treatment process of anorexia patients, however bulimia patients
seem less likely to want to involve their parents. This is partly due to the shame they
often feel because of their behavior and not wanting to worry their parents. However,
bulimic individuals are more likely to come from disengaged and neglectful families in
which the parents have too many concerns of their own to worry about their children.
Family therapy has been successful in patients with anorexia, and if bulimic patients
included their families when seeking treatment, it may be beneficial. Thirty bulimia
patients leaving an inpatient treatment center were asked to participate in this proposed
study. They were assigned to 2 groups of 15 people. Fifteen participants were placed in
family therapy and 15 were not. Each patient had a weekly check-up for a year to see if
they had relapsed. This design tested whether family therapy for 6 months would reduce
the risk of relapse within the first year of discharge. At the end of the year, the 2 groups
were compared to determine whether individuals in the family therapy group had a better
recovery rate than the individuals in the non-therapy group.
Description
v, 28 p.
Citation
Publisher
License
U.S. copyright laws protect this material. Commercial use or distribution of this material is not permitted without prior written permission of the copyright holder. All rights reserved.