title: Psychological well-being in out-patients with eating disorders: a controlled study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Positive functioning is widely neglected in research on eating disorders (EDs). The aim of this exploratory study was to assess psychological well-being (PWB) in out-patients with ED and in controls.
  
  
  METHODS
  The authors assessed PWB in 245 out-patients with EDs [105 with bulimia nervosa (BN), 57 with anorexia nervosa (AN), and 83 with binge eating disorder (BED) who met DSM-IV-TR] and 60 controls. They tested whether PWB was associated with eating attitude test (EAT) scores and if such associations differed among ED groups while taking into account confounding variables.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Significant differences between groups in all PWB scales were found. While individuals with BN reported significantly lower scores in all PWB dimensions than healthy controls, patients with BED scored significantly lower than controls in PWB autonomy, environmental mastery, and self-acceptance scales. Patients with AN showed similar scores to controls in all PWB dimensions, except for positive relationships and self-acceptance. In all ED groups, most PWB dimensions resulted significantly and negatively associated with EAT scales, except for AN where oral control was found to positively correlate with a high sense of purpose in life. All results were maintained even after adjusting for possible confounding variables.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Patients with EDs reported an impairment in PWB. The paucity of PWB was not necessarily dependent on the presence of high levels of psychological distress and on the severity of the disorder. Such assessments may therefore yield a more comprehensive evaluation in this clinical population.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Psychosomatics and Clinimetrics, Department of Psychology, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy.
authors.forename: Elena
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Tomba
authors.forename: Emanuela
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Offidani
authors.forename: Lucia
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Tecuta
authors.forename: Romana
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Schumann
authors.forename: Donatella
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Ballardini
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000856:Anorexia Nervosa / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology* / Q000628:therapy; D001294:Attitude to Health; D056912:Binge-Eating Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology* / Q000628:therapy; D052018:Bulimia Nervosa / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology* / Q000628:therapy; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D039721:Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders; D005247:Feeding Behavior / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy; D008297:Male; D008603:Mental Health; D010045:Outpatients / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care / Q000523:psychology; D011594:Psychometrics; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: eating attitudes; eating disorders; psychological well-being