Outcome of bulimia nervosa: prognostic indicators.

Bulimia nervosa is an eating disorder that is growing in prevalence in Western societies, and affecting more people at a younger age. Requests for treatment are creating serious problems for mental health services, making it necessary to establish appropriate treatment guidelines aimed at increasing the effectiveness of clinical interventions and guaranteeing a rational therapeutic approach. For this reason, research on predictive factors of the outcome of bulimia nervosa has greatly increased in recent years. This article reviews this recent research and discusses the most prevalent clinical findings, grouping them into three specific categories: individual, environmental, and therapeutic factors. The main methodological problems for assessing the outcome of bulimia nervosa are also discussed, and some measures for increasing the reliability of the research are proposed.