title: Is feeling extraneous from one's own body a core vulnerability feature in eating disorders?
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To identify core vulnerability features capable of discriminating subjects who are more prone to develop eating disorders.
  
  
  METHODS
  A nonclinical group composed of 253 university students was studied by means of the Identity and Eating Disorders questionnaire (IDEA), exploring abnormal attitudes toward one's own body and difficulties in the definition of one's own identity, the Body Uneasiness Test (BUT) and different self-reported questionnaires evaluating the specific and general psychopathology of eating disorders. The results were compared with those of a clinical eating disorder group.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In the student sample, a group composed of 35 subjects with abnormal eating patterns and a group (218 subjects) without such features were identified. The IDEA total and subscale scores were found to be significantly higher in subjects with abnormal eating patterns than in subjects without them (all p < 0.001). Positive correlations between the IDEA total and subscale scores and the BUT global score were observed in both groups (all p < 0.01). The comparison of the scores on the IDEA between the clinical group (patients with full-blown eating disorders) and the subjects with abnormal over-threshold eating patterns yields a significant difference in the 'feeling extraneous from one's own body' subscale of the IDEA.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The IDEA resulted in being a valid instrument to identify a vulnerability to eating disorders in subjects with abnormal eating patterns in the general population and to recognize the presence of a significant discomfort related to the body. Feeling extraneous from one's own body is the experience that discriminates most between clinical and nonclinical subjects.
authors.affiliation: G. d'Annunzio University of Chieti-Pescara, Chieti, Italy.
authors.forename: Giovanni
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Stanghellini
authors.forename: Francesca
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Trisolini
authors.forename: Giovanni
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Castellini
authors.forename: Alessandra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ambrosini
authors.forename: Carlo
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Faravelli
authors.forename: Valdo
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Ricca
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000886:Anthropometry; D001828:Body Image; D004213:Dissociative Disorders / Q000523:psychology*; D001068:Feeding and Eating Disorders / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D011603:Psychophysiology; D012306:Risk; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult