Tuesday, June 20, 2006

Study Sees No Gain in Using Antidepressant to Treat Anorexia


 
The New York Times
June 14, 2006 Wednesday 
Study Sees No Gain in Using Antidepressant to Treat Anorexia
By BENEDICT CAREY

One of the most widely used treatments for the eating disorder anorexia nervosa, the antidepressant Prozac, works no better than dummy pills in preventing recurrence in young women who have recovered from it, researchers are reporting today.

The study, the most rigorous to date to test the use of medication for anorexia, should alter treatment for an illness that is often devastatingly chronic and that has a higher mortality than any other psychiatric disorder, experts said. Fewer than a third of the study's participants, who also received regular psychotherapy, remained healthy for a year or more, whether they received drug treatment or not, the study found.


No comments: