Therapeutic factors in short-term group therapy for women with bulimia

Several recent studies indicate that short-term group therapy, either alone or in conjunction with other therapeutic interventions, is effective in the treatment of bulimia. The nature of the therapeutic effect in group treatments of bulimia has yet to be elucidated. The study reported here represents a first step toward establishing what bulimic patients regard as important therapeutically in their experience of group therapy. The findings suggest that patients regard “nonspecific” factors such as realising shared experience, learning from the experience of others, and gaining hope from observing positive change in others as important as the more “specific” factors such as gaining understanding into the nature of their difficulties. These findings have implications for the design and execution of treatment programs.