Personality subtypes in eating disorders: validation of a classification in a naturalistic sample.
BACKGROUND
Research has identified three personality subtypes in patients with eating disorders: emotionally dysregulated, constricted and high-functioning/perfectionistic.


OBJECTIVE
To see whether the subtypes are distinguished in ways indicative of valid classification, notably in patterns of adaptive functioning, comorbidity, treatment response and therapeutic interventions.


METHODS
A random sample of experienced clinicians provided data on 145 patients with bulimic symptoms, including data on eating disorder symptoms, DSM-IV comorbidity, personality pathology, treatment response and treatment interventions.


RESULTS
Patients categorised as dysregulated had the poorest functioning, most comorbidity and worst outcome, followed by patients in the constricted and high-functioning groups. The three subtypes elicited different therapeutic interventions and accounted for substantial incremental variance in outcome, holding constant the severity of eating disorder symptoms and presence of other Axis I disorders.


CONCLUSIONS
The data provide accumulating evidence for the validity of three personality subtypes in patients with eating disorders.
Thompson-Brenner
Heather
H
Center for Anxiety and Related Disorders, Department of Psychology, Boston University, 648 Beacon Street, Boston, MA 02215, USA. ht141@hotmail.com
Westen
Drew
D
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001068:Feeding and Eating Disorders / Q000145:classification / Q000523:psychology* / Q000534:rehabilitation; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D010552:Personality Assessment / Q000592:standards*; D010554:Personality Disorders / Q000145:classification / Q000175:diagnosis*; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales / Q000592:standards*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results