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The results of this study suggest that the prevalence of eating and anxiety disorder comorbidity is high. The present research should improve the clinical understanding of the comorbidity between eating disorders and anxiety disorders. In particular, it is anticipated that this research will have significant aetiological and therapeutic implications especially with regard to improving the clinical effectiveness of psychological treatments for eating disorders and highlighting the importance of screening for eating pathology in the clinical assessment of anxiety disorders.

A relationship between starvation and hyperactivity has been observed in animal models, in experiments with human subjects, and in dieting disorder patients. Since the earliest descriptions of anorexia nervosa, excessive physical activity has figured prominently as a symptom of the illness, yet little attention has been directed towards this phenomenon. The aims of this paper are to review the published literature, to report our experience of the role of physical over activity in the clinical presentation of dieting disorders, to discuss its implications for treatment, and to propose a supervised exercise program by which over activity may be addressed specifically in the treatment of these patients. © 1994 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Objective The degree to which patients with anorexia nervosa demonstrate readiness to recover from their illness has received scant theoretical or empirical attention. Investigating the prevalence and degree of amotivation for recovery in anorexia nervosa, its role in outcome, and the effectiveness of interventions designed to enhance readiness to recover necessitates the existence of a reliable and valid measure of motivational issues relevant to the disorder. The present study aimed to develop and evaluate an instrument for assessing readiness to recover in anorexia nervosa, namely, the Anorexia Nervosa Stages of Change Questionnaire (ANSOCQ), a 23‐item self‐report questionnaire based on Prochaska and DiClemente's stages of change model. Method Seventy‐one inpatients with anorexia nervosa participated in the study. On several occasions during their admission, participants completed the ANSOCQ as well as questionnaires assessing readiness to recover, anorexic symptomatology, general distress, and social desirability. Results The ANSOCQ demonstrated good internal consistency (.90) and 1‐week test‐retest reliability (.89). Various aspects of validity were also supported, such as significant relationships with other instruments assessing readiness to recover and the prediction of weight gain during different periods of treatment. Discussion The results suggest that the ANSOCQ is a psychometrically sound instrument that may prove useful in investigating the role of readiness to recover in anorexia nervosa. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Int J Eat Disord 28: 387–396, 2000.