Professional: June 2006 Archives

In a recent study in the Journal of the American Medical Association, Walsh and colleagues studied women who had received psychotherapy for anorexia nervosa and reached the normal range for weight. They then compared fluoxetine (Prozac) and placebo in these women, who continued to receive weekly psychotherapy. The percentage of those remaining in recovery after 1 year was effectively the same in both the active and placebo groups (around 30%). This suggests that Prozac does not help to prevent relapse in anorexia. This finding is in contrast to a small study conducted by Kaye and colleagues in 1991 who suggested there might be a role for antidepressants like Prozac in preventing relapse.

Thanks to Joel Yager for drawing my attention to this (via the AED mailing list).

The American Psychiatric Association have just published the Third Edition of the American Psychiatric
Association Practice Guideline for the Treatment of Patients with Eating Disorders.

It's available online on the APA website. The equivalent in the UK is the guideline published by NICE (the National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence) in January 04.