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Massage Therapy's Effect on Bulimic Women
Twenty-four female adolescent bulimic inpatients were randomly assigned to a
massage therapy of a standard treatment group. The massage patients showed
greater decreases in short-term measure of anxiety and depression (both
self-report and behavior observation). In addition, by the last day of the
therapy they had lower depression scores, lower cortisol levels, increased
dopamine levels and improved attitudes about their eating disorder including
improved body image. These data suggest the effectiveness of massage therapy as
an adjunct to treatment for bulimia.
The article begins with a brief description of bulimia, indicating that it is
similar to depression. It then discusses the effectiveness of anti-depressant
medications in treating bulimia. Next, it describes the study process, results,
and calls for more studies on the issue. Massage therapy was performed twice per
week for five weeks. The massage was administered by massage therapists. Both
groups attended daily therapy sessions, learned about nutritional choices and
basic principles of physiology, metabolism and non-verbal therapies such as
movement therapy (total of 30 - 40 sessions per week).
Results were verified using ANOVA and t-tests. It should be noted that
depression levels remained high in both groups, but this is explained by the
fact that depression is considered a depressive disorder. The lack of increase
in serotonin and decreases in norepinephrine levels is not explained. Also,
results for the control group are not presented in the tables.
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