title: Self-recognition of disordered eating among women with bulimic-type eating disorders: A community-based study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Self-recognition of eating-disordered behavior was examined in a community sample of young adult women (n = 158) with bulimic eating disorders.
  
  
  METHODS
  A vignette was presented describing a fictional person meeting diagnostic criteria for bulimia nervosa. Participants were asked whether they might currently have a problem such as the one described. Scores on measures of eating disorder psychopathology, functional impairment and general psychological distress were compared between participants who recognized a problem with their eating and those who did not.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Participants who recognized a problem with their eating (n = 86, 51.9%) had higher levels of eating disorder psychopathology and general psychological distress, were more likely to engage in self-induced vomiting, and tended to be heavier, than those who did not (n = 72, 48.1%). In addition, participants who recognized a problem were more likely to have received treatment for an eating or weight problem. In multivariate analysis, the occurrence of self-induced vomiting and higher body weight were the only variables significantly associated with recognition.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Poor recognition of eating-disordered behavior may be conducive to low or inappropriate treatment seeking among individuals with bulimic- type eating disorders. The perception that only disorders involving self-induced vomiting are pathological may need to be addressed in prevention programs.
authors.affiliation: Neuropsychiatric Research Institute, Fargo, North Dakota, USA. jonathan.mond@jcu.edu.au
authors.forename: Jonathan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Mond
authors.forename: Phillipa
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Hay
authors.forename: Bryan
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Rodgers
authors.forename: Cathy
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Owen
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001294:Attitude to Health; D052018:Bulimia Nervosa / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D003156:Community Mental Health Services; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D021641:Recognition, Psychology; D012649:Self Concept; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires