Bulimia: a case illustration of the superiority of behavioral over cognitive treatment.

The present study compared the relative efficacy of two major clinical procedures previously used in multicomponent cognitive-behavioral programs for treating bulimia. A single-subject experimental design was used and the results showed that the behavioral procedure of exposure plus response prevention was more effective than the cognitive procedure in reducing binge and vomit episodes as well as the urges to binge-vomit. These results suggest that the exposure plus response prevention component is more relevant for cognitive as well as behavioral changes in treating bulimia.