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Autonomic Arousal in Eating Disorders: Further Evidence for the Clinical Subdivision of Anorexia Nervosa

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

Paul Calloway ,
Peter Fonagy  and
Anthony Wakeling
Paul Calloway
Affiliation:
Academic Department of Psychiatry, The Royal Free Hospital, London
Peter Fonagy
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University College, London
Anthony Wakeling
Affiliation:
Academic Department of Psychiatry, The Royal Free Hospital, Pond Street, Hampstead, London NW3
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Summary

Autonomic arousal, measured by skin conductance level and response, was examined in 36 female patients with eating disorders (anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa) and 32 control subjects. No differences were found between the control group and anorexics who lost weight solely through dieting (restricting anorexics). Patients with a diagnosis of bulimia nervosa and anorexics with bulimic features, however, showed fewer spontaneous skin conductance responses and were faster to habituate to 85 dB tones than either controls or restricting anorexic patients. The pattern of findings supports recent views concerning the clinical subdivision of anorexia nervosa.

Type
Papers
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 142 , Issue 1 , January 1983 , pp. 38 - 42
Copyright
Copyright © 1983 The Royal College of Psychiatrists 

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