title: Defining recovery from an eating disorder: Conceptualization, validation, and examination of psychosocial functioning and psychiatric comorbidity.
abstract: Conceptually, eating disorder recovery should include physical, behavioral, and psychological components, but such a comprehensive approach has not been consistently employed. Guided by theory and recent recovery research, we identified a "fully recovered" group (n = 20) based on physical (body mass index), behavioral (absence of eating disorder behaviors), and psychological (Eating Disorder Examination-Questionnaire) indices, and compared them with groups of partially recovered (n = 15), active eating disorder (n = 53), and healthy controls (n = 67). The fully recovered group was indistinguishable from controls on all eating disorder-related measures used, while the partially recovered group was less disordered than the active eating disorder group on some measures, but not on body image. Regarding psychosocial functioning, both the fully and partially recovered groups had psychosocial functioning similar to the controls, but there was a pattern of more of the partially recovered group reporting eating disorder aspects interfering with functioning. Regarding other psychopathology, the fully recovered group was no more likely than the controls to experience current Axis I pathology, but they did have elevated rates of current anxiety disorder. Results suggest that a stringent definition of recovery from an eating disorder is meaningful. Clinical implications and future directions regarding defining eating disorder recovery are discussed.
authors: Department of Psychology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 27599, USA. bardonecone@unc.edu
authors: Anna M
authors: AM
authors: Bardone-Cone
authors: Megan B
authors: MB
authors: Harney
authors: Christine R
authors: CR
authors: Maldonado
authors: Melissa A
authors: MA
authors: Lawson
authors: D Paul
authors: DP
authors: Robinson
authors: Roma
authors: R
authors: Smith
authors: Aneesh
authors: A
authors: Tosh
mesh_terms: D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000628:therapy; D001828:Body Image; D015992:Body Mass Index; D015897:Comorbidity; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D001068:Feeding and Eating Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D007406:Interview, Psychological; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000628:therapy; D008960:Models, Psychological; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D055815:Young Adult