The troubled self in women with severe eating disorders (anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa). A study using interviews, self-reports, and percept-genetic methods.
Fifteen anorectic (A) and 13 bulimic (B) patients aged 20-49 years, all seriously ill, and 21 controls were studied, using a half-structured interview, the Tennessee Self Concept Scale, the tachistoscopic Identity Test (IT), and two other percept-genetic tests. The differences between A and B were not particularly pronounced, A patients being on the whole more sensitive and self-directed, and B patients more depressive and object-directed. The IT differentiated between patients and controls very powerfully with regard to alexithymia. A type of response in that test, emphasizing the eyes, was seen as a search for guidance. Descriptions of mother were generally negative.
Johnsson
P
P
Lund University, Lund, Sweden.
Smith
G J
GJ
Amnér
G
G
D000328:Adult; D000342:Affective Symptoms / Q000150:complications / Q000523:psychology; D000856:Anorexia Nervosa / Q000150:complications / Q000523:psychology*; D002032:Bulimia / Q000150:complications / Q000523:psychology*; D003674:Defense Mechanisms; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007389:Internal-External Control; D007406:Interview, Psychological / Q000379:methods; D008875:Middle Aged; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012649:Self Concept; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires