The interpretation of symptoms of starvation/severe dietary restraint in eating disorder patients

Grave, R.D., Di Pauli, D., Sartirana, M., Calugi, S. and Shafran, R. (2007) The interpretation of symptoms of starvation/severe dietary restraint in eating disorder patients. Eating and Weight Disorders-Studies on Anorexia Bulimia and Obesity, 12 (3). pp. 108-113. ISSN 1124-4909

Abstract/Summary

The aims of the study were to test the hypotheses that some symptoms of starvation/severe dietary restraint are interpreted by patients with eating disorders in terms or control. Sixty-nine women satisfying the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders - IV edition (DSM-IV) criteria for a clinical eating disorder and 107 controls participated in the Study. All the participants completed an ambiguous scenarios paradigm, the Eating Disorder Lamination Questionnaire (EDE-Q) and the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). Significantly more eating disorder patients than non clinical participants interpreted the starvation/dietary restraint symptoms of hunger, heightened satiety, and dizziness in terms of control. The data give further Support to the recent cognitive-behavioural theory of eating disorders suggesting that eating disorder patients interpret some starvation/dietary restraint symptoms in terms of control.