Premium
The association between bulimic symptoms and reported psychopathology
Author(s) -
Garner David M.,
Olmsted Marion P.,
Davis Ron,
Rockert Wendi,
Goldbloom David,
Eagle Morris
Publication year - 1990
Publication title -
international journal of eating disorders
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.785
H-Index - 138
eISSN - 1098-108X
pISSN - 0276-3478
DOI - 10.1002/1098-108x(199001)9:1<1::aid-eat2260090102>3.0.co;2-1
Subject(s) - bulimia nervosa , psychopathology , psychology , binge eating , clinical psychology , personality , eating disorders , psychiatry , association (psychology) , anorexia nervosa , personality disorders , psychotherapist , social psychology
Findings from the current study were derived from 50 bulimia nervosa patients participating in a short‐term psychotherapy trial. Multivariate analyses revealed that patients with good and poor outcome were indistinguishable on most measures at pretreatment and that those who evidenced the greatest reduction in eating symptoms also experienced a marked improvement on a wide range of self‐report personality and adjustment measures. Potentially important exceptions in which the poor outcome group had significantly higher pretreatment means included binge frequency and the Ineffectiveness scale of the EDI, with a trend toward higher scores on the Borderline Syndrome Index (p <.06). It is concluded that psychological disturbances reported by bulimia nervosa patients at initial testing should be interpreted with caution since they may represent secondary elaborations of chronic dietary chaos rather than more fundamental deficits in functioning.