Personality in Anorexia nervosa: An update and a theoretical integration

Abstract

No single cause is likely to be of supreme importance in the etiology of Anorexia nervosa, but personality factors continue to attract researchers' attention. This paper is a review of evidence on the subject, covering psychometric, interview, and projective investigations. Significant methodological problems exist in the literature, but do not suffice to explain findings of obsessive and inhibited features intermixed with impulsivity, and a high prevalence of defined personality disorders. Adding to previous work by Cloninger and Strober we suggest that vulnerable individuals are temperamentally incapable of coping with the challenges of adolescence by anything other than repetitive, reward seeking behavior. In a social environment that greatly emphasizes thinness as a criterion for self‐worth and success, the outcome may be Anorexia nervosa.

Association of Multiple DRD2 Polymorphisms with Anorexia Nervosa

“…Dopaminergic neuronal function modulates feeding behavior (Szczypka et al, 1999(Szczypka et al, , 2000, motor activity (Kalivas, 1993), and rewardmotivated (Blum et al, 1995;Salamone, 1996) and drugseeking behavior (Bardo et al, 1996). Aside from their wellknow disturbances of feeding and weight maintenance, individuals with AN have stereotypic and hyperactive motor behavior (Kron et al, 1978;Beumont et al, 1994), anhedonic, obsessional personalities, and reduced novelty seeking (Sohlberg and Strober, 1994). Moreover, we have shown that individuals who have recovered from AN exhibit significantly lower CSF homovanillic acid concentrations than individuals with a history of BN diagnosis or control individuals (Kaye et al, 1999).…”

Personality and dimensions of dietary restraint

“…Personality, defined as the dynamic organization within the individual of those psychophysical systems that determine his or her unique adjustment to the environment (Allport, 1937), may also be associated with restrained eating. Using dimensional measures, the personality of women with clinical eating disorders has been explored by several authors (Bulik, Sullivan, Weltzin, & Kaye, 1995;Casper, Hedeker, & McKlough, 1992;Kleifield, Sunday, Hurt, & Halmi, 1994;Sohlberg & Strober, 1994;Strober, 1980). Personality has been examined to a lesser extent in non-eating disordered, restrained eaters.…”

Troubles de l’alimentation et personnalité borderline : quelles affinités ?

“…Ces TA ont été souvent reliés, en théorie, à des perturbations centrales de la personnalité et de la représentation du « self » (Krueger, 1989;Strober, 1991). Par exemple, des études descriptives sur des cohortes de patients anorexiques classiques qui exercent un contrôle excessif sur leur alimentation (sans orgies alimentaires ou purges) et que l'on qualifie de « restricteurs », ont associé ce comportement à des dimensions d'hypercontrôle de type anxieux comprenant des traits de perfectionnisme, d'ordre, de recherche de la symétrie, de crainte de mal faire et d'idées obsédantes (Sohlberg et Strober, 1994;Steiger et Stotland, 1995). Par contre, des études sur des cohortes de patients de poids faible ou normal et qui présentent des comportements d'orgies alimentaires et de purges, et que l'on qualifie de ce fait de « boulimiques », associent plutôt ces comportements à des dimensions comme le déficit de l'autorégulation, l'instabilité de l'affectivité et la recherche excessive d'attention et de sensations (par ex.…”