More and more clinicians as well as researchers realize that
anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa often are extremely
difficult to treat and that the short-term outcome can be
very misleading. In many cases these disordersprevail for a
long period of time and can have serious consequences for
the patient's further life. This book gives a detailed over-
view oftoday's knowledge regarding the long-term outcome of
the treatment of anorexic and bulimic patients, many of whom
were treated in highly spezialized centers. Experts from bo-
th Europe and the U.S. report on theirmost recent research.
Their studies include medical as well as psychosocial and
psychiatric aspects of eating disorders. Clinicians with
long experience in the treatment of eating disorder patients
discuss the important practical implications of these rese-
arch findings. The information given in this book is helpful
for both treatment and prevention of eating disorders.
Finally, concrete guidelines show as how to conduct further
follow-up studies in this field.

I: General Aspects of Follow-up Research.- The Significance of Follow-up Investigations.- Long-Term Course of Anorexia Nervosa: A Review of the Literature.- Outcome Assessment.- The Anorexia Nervosa Symptom Score: A Multidimensional Tool for Evaluating the Course of Anorexia Nervosa.- Follow-up of Males with Eating Disorders.- II: Follow-up Studies of Anorexia and Bulimia Nervosa.- The Heidelberg-Mannheim Study: Long-Term Follow-up of Anorexia Nervosa Patients at the University Medical Center - Background and Preliminary Results.- Somatic Findings at 12-Year Follow-up of 103 Anorexia Nervosa Patients: Results of the Heidelberg-Mannheim Follow-up.- A Prospective Follow-up Study in Early-Onset Eating Disorders.- Long-Term Outcome in Anorexia Nervosa Inpatients.- The German Longitudinal Bulimia Nervosa Study I.- Long-Term Follow-up of Bulimic Patients Treated in Integrated Behavioural and Psychodynamic Treatment Programmes.- A Long-Term Follow-up Study of Outpatients with Bulimia Nervosa Treated in a Structured Group Psychotherapy Program.- A Large-Scale Longitudinal Follow-up Study of Patients with Eating Disorders: Methodological Issues and Preliminary Results.- The Prognosis of Eating Disorders: A Clinician's Approach.- Chronicity in Anorexia Nervosa: Results from the Swedish Long-Term Study.- What Can We Learn from Long-Term Outcome of Anorexia and Bulimia Nervosa?.- III: Special Issues.- Genetic Determinants in Anorexia Nervosa: Results of Studies in Twins.- Menstrual Disorder and Other Hormonal Disturbances.- Aspects of the Natural History of Normal and Disordered Eating and Some Methodological Considerations.- Important Factors in the Process of Recovery According to Patients with Anorexia Nervosa.- Social Support and Long-Term Course of Anorexia Nervosa.- EgoStrength, Object Relations, and Life Events as Outcome Predictors in Restricting Anorexia Nervosa and Normal-Weight Bulimia Nervosa.- What Happened to the "Tasting Girls"? A Follow-up in Retrospect.- Treatment of Anorexia Nervosa: An Interview.- Outlook.