Prognostic implications of stable versus transient "borderline features" in bulimic patients.

BACKGROUND

This study examined the association between "borderline features" and treatment response in bulimic patients.

METHOD: Treatment response was assessed in 69 bulimic patients over 6 months of treatment (and 1-year response in 44 of the patients). Patients were classified as a function of whether "borderline features" were (1) "stably" present (at pretreatment and after 3 months), (2) "transiently" present (at pretreatment only), or (3) "absent" (at both time points).

RESULTS

The stably borderline profile coincided systematically with Axis II comorbidity (not with mood disorders) and was generally predictive of poorer 6- and 12-month response of eating and comorbid symptoms. Hierarchical regressions showed predictive effects to have a partial independence from effects caused by concurrent eating symptoms and depression.

CONCLUSION

Results highlight the importance, with respect to prognosis in bulimia nervosa, of establishing the temporal stability of features that imply character disturbance.