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Excessive exercise in anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa: Relation to eating characteristics and general psychopathology
Author(s) -
PeñasLledó Eva,
Vaz Leal Francisco J.,
Waller Glenn
Publication year - 2002
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/eat.10042
Subject(s) - anorexia nervosa , psychopathology , bulimia nervosa , psychology , somatization , eating disorders , anxiety , clinical psychology , psychiatry , depression (economics) , economics , macroeconomics
Objective Excessive exercise is a well‐known phenomenon in anorexia nervosa, but less is known about its role in bulimia nervosa. In addition, there is little evidence regarding the psychopathological processes that might act as predisposing, triggering, or maintaining factors for such exercise. The present study examined the presence of excessive exercise in different women with eating disorders, and its psychopathological correlates. Methods Case notes from 63 anorexia nervosa and 61 bulimia nervosa patients were examined. Two‐way multivariate analyses of variance (diagnosis × use of excessive exercise) were used to determine the impact of the two factors upon eating characteristics (EAT‐40 and BITE) and psychopathological symptoms (SCL‐90‐R). Results While high levels of depression were more likely among all patients who used excessive exercise, levels of anxiety and somatization were particularly high only among those anorexics who exercised excessively. Discussion Possible explanatory models are advanced to account for this pattern of findings, focusing on the possible use of exercise as an affect regulation strategy among anorexia nervosa patients. Further research is suggested to test and develop this model, and possible clinical implications are outlined. © 2002 by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Eat Disord 31: 370–375, 2002.