Psychological Characteristics of Bulimic Women with and without a History of Anorexia Nervosa

Lee, Jung Hyun; Jo, Hye Hyeon; Shin, Mi Yeon; Kim, Joon Ki

Abstract

OBJECTIVES
This study compared cognitive-behavioral traits related to eating behaviors, obsessive-compulsive traits, and depression levels in bulimic subjects with and without a history of anorexia nervosa according to the perspective that there are common diagnostic transitions over time in subgroups of eating disorders (anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and eating disorder not otherwise specified).
METHODS
We compared EDI-2, MOCI, and BDI scores between the bulimic group with a history of anorexia (n=98), the bulimic group without a history of anorexia (n=99), and the non-clinic group (n=100) by ANOVA.
RESULTS
The bulimic group with a history of anorexia showed significantly higher scores on four of the EDI-2 subscales (Ineffectiveness, Interoceptive Awareness, Impulse Regulation and Social Insecurity) than the other two groups. They also indicated significantly higher scores on both the MOCI subscale 'rumination' and BDI than both the other groups.
CONCLUSION
These findings suggest that it is important to consider a prior history of anorexia nervosa in order to understand symptom severity in patients with bulimia. Psychological variables such as ineffectiveness, impulse regulation, social insecurity, rumination, and depression are crucial to consider while treating bulimics with a history of anorexia.