Ego development in anorexia inpatients

Abstract

It is widely held by clinicians that anorexia nervosa patients display a compliant, inhibited, highly conformist ego structure. This hypothesis was tested by the administration of the Washington University Sentence Completion Test (WUSCT), a psychometric measure of ego development, to 29 anorexic inpatients. Surprisingly, the results of the WUSCT did not support the hypothesis: The majority of patients demonstrated ego level development beyond the conformist category. There was a trend for higher body weight at admission to be associated with higher levels of ego development, but the correlation was not statistically significant. Clinical and research implications of the findings are discussed.

Sexual and social maturity versus social conformity in restricting anorectic, bulimic, and borderline women

“…The borderline women, on the other hand, gave scores below the normal range for social conformity. Consistent with our findings, Swift et al (1984) found that anorectic inpatients not only generally scored in the Conformist (1-3) level of ego development, but the majority "proved to be in transition" into "post-Conformist" scores. The interpretation of the data by these investigators was that, in contrast to general clinical observation, anorexics actually display a considerable degree of self-awareness and reflection.…”

Sexual and social maturity versus social conformity in restricting anorectic, bulimic, and borderline women

“…The borderline women, on the other hand, gave scores below the normal range for social conformity. Consistent with our findings, Swift et al (1984) found that anorectic inpatients not only generally scored in the Conformist (1-3) level of ego development, but the majority "proved to be in transition" into "post-Conformist" scores. The interpretation of the data by these investigators was that, in contrast to general clinical observation, anorexics actually display a considerable degree of self-awareness and reflection.…”

Cognitive dysfunction in eating disorders

“…Although the anorexic tends to demonstrate above-average abilities on intelligence tests (Bemis, 1978;Hamsher, Halmi, & Benton, 1981), some theorists posit that she* does not develop formal operational thinking or mature conceptual complexity (Garfinkel & Gamer, 1982). One investigation, using the Loevinger Sentence Completion Test (Loevinger & Wessler, 1970), failed to confirm this speculation (Swift, Camp, Bushnell, & Bargman, 1984) but awaits replication.…”

Sexual and social maturity versus social conformity in restricting anorectic, bulimic, and borderline women

“…The borderline women, on the other hand, gave scores below the normal range for social conformity. Consistent with our findings, Swift et al (1984) found that anorectic inpatients not only generally scored in the Conformist (1-3) level of ego development, but the majority "proved to be in transition" into "post-Conformist" scores. The interpretation of the data by these investigators was that, in contrast to general clinical observation, anorexics actually display a considerable degree of self-awareness and reflection.…”

Cognitive dysfunction in eating disorders

“…Although the anorexic tends to demonstrate above-average abilities on intelligence tests (Bemis, 1978;Hamsher, Halmi, & Benton, 1981), some theorists posit that she* does not develop formal operational thinking or mature conceptual complexity (Garfinkel & Gamer, 1982). One investigation, using the Loevinger Sentence Completion Test (Loevinger & Wessler, 1970), failed to confirm this speculation (Swift, Camp, Bushnell, & Bargman, 1984) but awaits replication.…”

Sexual and social maturity versus social conformity in restricting anorectic, bulimic, and borderline women

“…The borderline women, on the other hand, gave scores below the normal range for social conformity. Consistent with our findings, Swift et al (1984) found that anorectic inpatients not only generally scored in the Conformist (1-3) level of ego development, but the majority "proved to be in transition" into "post-Conformist" scores. The interpretation of the data by these investigators was that, in contrast to general clinical observation, anorexics actually display a considerable degree of self-awareness and reflection.…”

Cognitive dysfunction in eating disorders

“…Although the anorexic tends to demonstrate above-average abilities on intelligence tests (Bemis, 1978;Hamsher, Halmi, & Benton, 1981), some theorists posit that she* does not develop formal operational thinking or mature conceptual complexity (Garfinkel & Gamer, 1982). One investigation, using the Loevinger Sentence Completion Test (Loevinger & Wessler, 1970), failed to confirm this speculation (Swift, Camp, Bushnell, & Bargman, 1984) but awaits replication.…”