eating disorders

Anxiety in Anorexia and Bulimia Nervose

Food Behavior Disorders (DCA) are psychiatric disorders that significantly compromise the health status of carriers. In particular, in the anorexia nervosa the tendency to malnutrition (more or less serious, depending on the case) is manifested due to inappropriate food behaviors. This behavior, from the etiological point of view, is fed by a real negative distortion towards one's own body image.

Being psychiatric diseases, eating disorders are often associated with other comorbidities and / or symptoms of the same kind. In this regard, a 2004 study entitled " Comorbidity of anxiety disorders with anorexia and bulimia nervosa " sought to assess the presence of anxiety disorders in diseases of anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa.

The experimental used a sample of individuals affected by anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa and, in collaboration with the " Price Foundation " (non-profit foundation for food education), the following were determined: the frequency of anxiety disorders, the relative correlation to the eating disorder and the average age of onset.

The sample is composed of 97 people suffering from anorexia nervosa, 282 with bulimia nervosa and 293 who have historically had both diagnoses.

The method of analysis included the compilation of the “S tructured Clinical Interview ” (interview) of the DSM-IV ( Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders IV Edition ) specific for “ Axis I Disorders ”. This is aimed at measuring, in a standardized way, the possible presence of: anxiety, perfectionism and obsession.

Subsequently, these parameters were compared with those of a non-clinical female group, in order to quantify the substantial differences.

Most of the sample's anxiety levels were similar in all three eating disorders groups.

In a retrospective analysis, about two thirds of the subjects had one or more pathological episodes related to anxiety states; the most recorded were: obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and social phobia.

The majority of the participants reported that the onset of these disorders (obsessive compulsive disorder, social phobia, specific phobia and generalized anxiety disorder) occurred in childhood or adolescence, therefore earlier than the manifestation of eating disorders.

It was also observed that (at the time of the interview) subjects with previous eating disorders, currently healthy, and who never had a diagnosis for anxiety-related disorders, still tended to be anxious, perfectionist and avoided potentially awkward situations .

The prevalence of anxiety disorders in general and especially of obsessive compulsive disorder, was much higher in subjects with anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa than in the NON clinical female group.

In conclusion, anxiety disorders seem to begin primarily in childhood, therefore early with respect to eating disorders. This evidence suggests the possibility that these symptoms / discomforts represent an element of vulnerability (like a risk factor) in the development of anorexia nervosa and / or bulimia nervosa.