Eating disorders may be viewed from a transdiagnostic perspective and there is evidence supporting a transdiagnostic form of cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT-E). The aim of the present study was to compare CBT-E with interpersonal psychotherapy (IPT), a leading alternative treatment for adults with an eating disorder. One hundred and thirty patients with any form of eating disorder (body mass index >17.5 to <40.0) were randomized to either CBT-E or IPT. Both treatments involved 20 sessions over 20 weeks followed by a 60-week closed follow-up period. Outcome was measured by independent blinded assessors. Twenty-nine participants (22.3%) did not complete treatment or were withdrawn. At post-treatment 65.5% of the CBT-E participants met criteria for remission compared with 33.3% of the IPT participants (p < 0.001). Over follow-up the proportion of participants meeting criteria for remission increased, particularly in the IPT condition, but the CBT-E remission rate remained higher (CBT-E 69.4%, IPT 49.0%; p = 0.028). The response to CBT-E was very similar to that observed in an earlier study. The findings indicate that CBT-E is potent treatment for the majority of outpatients with an eating disorder. IPT remains an alternative to CBT-E, but the response is less pronounced and slower to be expressed.Current controlled trialsISRCTN 15562271.

Compared with family therapy, CBT guided self-care has the slight advantage of offering a more rapid reduction of bingeing, lower cost, and greater acceptability for adolescents with bulimia or eating disorder not otherwise specified.

Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is the leading evidence-based treatment for bulimia nervosa. A new “enhanced” version of the treatment appears to be more potent and has the added advantage of being suitable for all eating disorders, including anorexia nervosa and eating disorder not otherwise specified. This article reviews the evidence supporting CBT in the treatment of eating disorders and provides an account of the “transdiagnostic” theory that underpins the enhanced form of the treatment. It ends with an outline of the treatment's main strategies and procedures.

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Brief cognitive behaviour therapy is of limited efficacy in reducing self-harm repetition, but the findings taken in conjunctin with the economic evaluation (Byford et al. 2003) indicate superiority of MACT over TAU in terms of cost and effectiveness combined.

Little is known about how psychological treatments work. Research on treatment-induced mediators of change may be of help in identifying potential causal mechanisms through which they operate. Outcome-focused randomised controlled trials provide an excellent opportunity for such work. However, certain conceptual and practical difficulties arise when studying psychological treatments, most especially deciding how best to conceptualise the treatment concerned and how to accommodate the fact that most psychological treatments are implemented flexibly. In this paper, these difficulties are discussed, and strategies and procedures for overcoming them are described.

BN has a potent impact on carers' lives. This has implications in terms of service provision and future research in this area.

PSH/GSH may have some utility as a first step in treatment and may have potential as an alternative to formal therapist-delivered psychological therapy. Future research should focus on producing large well-conducted studies of self-help treatments in eating disorders including health economic evaluations, different types and modes of delivering self-help (e.g. computerised versus manual-based) and different populations and settings.