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Nonfat phobic anorexia nervosa: Clinical characteristics and response to inpatient treatment
Author(s) -
Carter Jacqueline C.,
BewellWeiss Carmen V.
Publication year - 2011
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.20820
Subject(s) - anorexia nervosa , psychopathology , underweight , subclinical infection , weight gain , psychology , depression (economics) , psychiatry , eating disorders , body mass index , clinical psychology , overweight , medicine , body weight , economics , macroeconomics
Objective: The aim of this study was to compare patients admitted to a specialized inpatient program for anorexia nervosa (AN) with and without a fear of weight gain in terms of specific eating disorder symptoms, general psychopathology, and treatment outcome. Method: Measures of specific and general psychopathology were administered at admission to and discharge from the inpatient program. Of the 138 participants, 81% (n = 112) were categorized as having clinical levels of “fear of weight gain” and 19% (n = 26) were categorized as having subclinical levels of this feature. Results: The subclinical‐level group had lower scores on measures of eating disorder psychopathology, depression, general psychiatric disturbance, and obsessive‐compulsive symptomatology, but higher self‐esteem scores. There were no differences found in terms of age of onset of AN, duration of illness, AN subtype, body mass index, or treatment outcome. Discussion: The current findings provide evidence that underweight patients who deny a fear of weight gain are less disturbed in terms of both eating disorder pathology and general psychopathology. © 2010 by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. (Int J Eat Disord 2011; 44:220–224)