Thursday, July 17, 2008

Eating disorders, personality and self-harm

Certain personality traits are though to predispose people towards eating disorders. Introversion, conformity, perfection and obsessive-compulsive behaviour have been associated with anorexia nervosa while impulsivity, low self esteem and antisocial personality traits have been associatd with bulima. Self-injurious behaviour is more common among people with eating disorders and a Swedish study of 115 people looked into the links between personality disorders, self-injurious behaviour and eating disorders comparing 38 people with eating disorders to 67 controls. Both the anorexic and bulimic patients had higher anxiety- and detachment-related traits than the control group and people with bulimia showed higher hostility. Anorexics scored lower than bulimics on scales measuring impulsivity, guilt and self-injurious behaviour was more frequent among bulimic patients.

Ahren-Moonja, Jennie ... [et al] - Personality traits and self-injurious behaviour in patients with eating disorders European Eating Disorders Review July-August 2008, 16(4), 268-275

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