This study examined the effects of short-term educativelsupport groups and subliminal psychodynamic activation on bulimic symptomatology and psychological functioning in 27 female students. Subjects were randomly assigned to one of four conditions: ( 1 ) educativelsupport group plus experimental stimulus; (2) educative/ support group plus neutral stimulus; (3) attentionlplacebo plus experimental stimulus; and (4) attentionlplacebo plus neutral stimulus. The educativelsupport group had significant ameliorative effects on binging and symptoms of emotional distress, regardless of whether or not it was paired with subliminal psychodynamic activation. Decreases in several psychological traits associated with eating disorders were found among all subjects irrespective of treatment conditions. Subliminal psychodynamic activation appeared to exert an independent treatment effect on restrained eating and certain symptoms of emotional distress. Clinical and theoretical implications are discussed and related to current proposed etiologies of bulimia.
Bulimia is an eating disorder characterized by recurrent episodes of binge eating, often followed by self-induced vomiting or the use of laxatives or diuretics in large quantities. The disorder occurs almost exclusively among young women, with age of onset typically between 15 and 18 years (Mitchell & Pyle, 1982).
Females may be particularly vulnerable to developing bulimia, owing to a complex convergence of societal, biological, and psychological factors, including sociocultural emphasis on thinness and dieting and constitutional pressures toward a genetically optimal body fat level that is higher for females than for