Eating Disorders
Relationship to psychological disorders
John J. Steen
Saint Joseph’s University
Eating Disorders
Anorexia nervosa
– Restricting type anorexia nervosa- starvation, intense fear of being
fat, and distorted body image.
– Binge/purge type anorexia nervosa- binging followed by various
methods of purging, such as vomiting or misuse of laxatives in
order to avoid weight gain.
Bulimia nervosa
– Uncontrolled binging followed by purging techniques.
– Non-purging bulimia nervosa - bulimia nervosa without the
purging.
• Here excess exercise and fasting are used as preventative methods to
avoid weight gain.
Binge-eating disorder
– Emotional binge eating with no intentions of purging.
Psychological Disorders
related to eating disorders
Obsessive-compulsive disorder:
– Obsessions - thoughts and impulses that invade a person’s consciousness
causing anxiety.
– Compulsions - repetitive behaviors that a person feels they must engage in
to alleviate the anxiety.
– Eating disorder are similar in that one is obsessively fearing weight gain
and compulsively exercising, purging, and checking his/her weight.
Borderline personality disorder:
– Cluster B: Dramatic-emotional personality disorder.
– Feeling of emptiness which causes a person to cling to new friend or
therapist trying to fill their void.
– Great amount of controversy over borderline personality.
• Research has shown a large variety of results.
Psychological Disorders
related to eating disorders
Depression:
– Sadness, poor self-esteem, sense of worthlessness, hopelessness, and appetite
disturbances are among the symptoms of depression.
– Research found strong connections between eating disorders and depression.
– Highest prevalence rates
• Casper (1998) found a prevalence rate as high as 50-65% of bulimic patients also had
depression.
Substance abuse:
– Substances are any natural or synthetic material altering perceptions, thoughts,
behaviors, and emotions.
– Sub-types:
• Substance intoxication - maladaptive behavioral symptoms due to the effect of a substance on
the CNS
• Substance withdrawal - distress in social functioning due to the stoppage of substance use
• Substance abuse - recurrent substance use leading to harmful consequences
• Substance dependence - substance use leading to physiological dependence
– Research has found alterations in neurotransmitters affect both eating disorders and
substance abuse.
– Share characteristics such as lack of control, denial, and psychological cravings.
Teri B. Pearlstein M.D.
Brown University Medical School
Bringing it all together
– In 2002 Pearlstein compiled prevalence rates of
psychological disorders among eating disorders.
Used over 150 research and review articles to
maximize a better understanding of a relationship if
any.
Found large variance in the prevalence rates
– Some ranging from 1.9% to 41%
– Only significant prevalence rates were found
among depression.
Concluded that there is definitely a relationship but
more research is needed to determine treatment
methods.