A day hospital treatment programme is described for eating disordered patients who would otherwise require inpatient treatment. The characteristics at presentation of 106 consecutive patients are described. Of patients completing the programme, 65 could be recruited for the outcome study. At presentation, 26 per cent ful®lled DSM-IV criteria for anorexia nervosa, 65 per cent for bulimia nervosa and 9 per cent had an eating disorder not otherwise speci®ed. The average length of treatment of all patients was 13 weeks. There was signi®cant weight gain among the anorectic patients and a signi®cant decrease in the average number of binges among the bulimic patients. Statistically signi®cant improvements over time for psychological, sexual and socioeconomic adjustment were also obtained. *

No abstract

This study was designed to identify clinical variables and personality factors that could predict the completion or noncompletion of a day treatment group programme for patients with eating disorders. Patients (n ¼ 125) were subdivided into those who had completed a 4-month day treatment programme (n ¼ 106) and those who had dropped out (n ¼ 19). All the patients had been assessed with regard to eating psychopathology, general psychopathology and personality features at the beginning of the programme. At presentation, 50.4 per cent fulfilled DSM-IV criteria for anorexia nervosa, 39.2 per cent for bulimia nervosa and 10.4 per cent for an eating disorder not otherwise specified. Non-completion of therapy was associated with more severe bulimic symptoms, high levels of aggression and extraversion and low levels of inhibitedness. Assessment of these characteristics could be used to improve the therapy programme and to help those patients at increased risk of dropping out.

The present study examined the prevalence of DSM-III-R personality disorders (PDs) and levels of depressive symptoms in patients in a day-hospital programme for eating disorders. Sixty-®ve patients diagnosed with anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa were administered the Personality Diagnostic Questionnaire Revised (PDQ-R), the Eating Disorder Inventory (EDI) and the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). In total, 49.2 per cent of all patients had at least one PD diagnosis. No signi®cant difference was found between patients with bulimia nervosa and anorexia nervosa. Eating Disorder patients with at least one PD had higher scores on the BDI and three EDI subscales compared to patients without a PD. In general, the prevalence of Personality Disorders in the present sample tended to be closer to results quoted by studies with eating-disordered outpatients rather than inpatients. Axis I disorders may affect personality state measures.