Severity of bulimia: Relationship with depression and other psychopathology

Self Cite

Bulimic binge‐purgers, bulimic binge‐eaters, nonbulimic obese presenting for treatment for obesity, obese not in treatment, and normal control subjects were compared using the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI), Symptom Checklist‐90‐Revised (SCL‐90‐R), and Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). Results suggested a continuum of severity, with the binge‐purger group showing the highest levels of psychopathology, and the binge‐eaters and clinical obese showing significantly more distress than the two control groups. Analysis of the frequency of clinically elevated scores on each scale of the MMPI and SCL‐90R as well as the BDI as a function of group indicated that the clinical groups evidenced significantly greater psychopathology compared with their appropriate control groups. These results clarify some of the conflicting results of previous investigations of obesity which did not differentiate obese patients and nonpatients. The implications of these findings for treatment research on obesity are that perhaps a more broadspectrum form of treatment may be required in order to address the psychological problems of the chronically obese.

Section: Prather and Williamsonmentioning

confidence: 97%

Psychopathology associated with bulimia, binge eating, and obesity

Prather

Williamson²

1988

Self Cite

“…In a similar vein, Fairburn (1983) has contended that depression in bulimia is secondary to loss of control over eating, and that depressive symptoms remit as control over aberrant eating behaviors is established. Recent evidence supports his conjecture (Garner et al, 1990;Williamson et al, 1987).…”

mentioning

confidence: 59%

Lack of causal relationship between depressive symptoms and eating abnormalities in a nonclinical population: Findings from a six-month follow-up study

Leung

Steiger²

1991

Three alternative causal hypotheses have been proposed concerning the relationship between mood and eating disturbances: (1) mood disturbances in eating disorders are consequences of eating abnormalities; (2) eating abnormalities are consequences of underlying mood disturbances; (3) mood and eating disturbances are not causally related but are both effects of some other set of common causes or “third variables.” The present study used a cross‐lagged panel design to examine these competing causal hypotheses concerning mood and eating symptoms in a nonclinical population. High‐school girls, 543, ranging in age from 13 to 17, were tested twice (across a 6‐month interval) for depressive symptoms and eating abnormalities. Autocorrelations indicated that mood and eating disturbances were quite stable over the 6‐month period (.71 for mood and .72 for eating). Synchronous correlations revealed a moderate but stable association between mood and eating disturbances (.41 for Time 1 and .42 for Time 2). Comparison of cross‐lagged correlations from mood to eating pathology (.34) and from eating to mood disturbances (.35), however, indicated no predominant causal sequence between these two variables. Implications of these findings were discussed.

“…Williamson et al (1987), using a median split, divided 35 bulimics into those who purged fewer or more than three times a week. The means were 1.7 and 9.9, respectively.…”

Section: Frequency Of Binge-eatingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Diagnostic criteria for bulimia nervosa

Wilson

1992

A review of the available literature and a survey of professionals in the field of eating disorders was conducted to examine the validity and utility of DSM‐III‐R criteria A and D for bulimia nervosa. Virtually no data bear on the requirement that a binge involve rapid eating, and relatively few studies on the requirement that a binge involve a “large” amount of food. Frequency of binge‐eating appears to be unrelated to concurrent psychopathology or treatment outcome. Secondary analyses of existing data sets and future research aimed explicitly at resolving these issues are recommended.