Hostname: page-component-6bf8c574d5-b4m5d Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-02-16T23:08:11.287Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Clinical Features of Bulimia Nervosa

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

Christopher G. Fairburn  and
Peter J. Cooper
Christopher G. Fairburn
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, University of Oxford, Warneford Hospital, Oxford OX3 7JX
Peter J. Cooper
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, University of Oxford, Warneford Hospital, Oxford OX3 7JX
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

The clinical features of 35 patients with bulimia nervosa are described. All the patients came from the Oxford area and each fulfilled conservative operational diagnostic criteria. Standardised assessment procedures were used including a structured interview designed to assess the psychopathology characteristic of patients with eating disorders. It was confirmed that these patients have grossly disturbed eating habits accompanied by morbid beliefs and values concerning their shape and weight. Although the majority had a weight within the normal range, a history of weight disturbance was common. There was a high degree of psychiatric morbidity with depressive symptoms being particularly prominent. A quarter of the sample had previously fulfilled diagnostic criteria for anorexia nervosa, and this group closely resembled those patients with no such history.

Type
Research Article
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 144 , Issue 3 , March 1984 , pp. 238 - 246
Copyright
Copyright © 1984 The Royal College of Psychiatrists 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

American Psychiatric Association (1980) DSM-III: Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (3rd edition). Washington DC: American Psychiatric Association.Google Scholar
Button, E. J. & Whitehouse, A. (1981) Subclinical anorexia nervosa. Psychological Medicine, 11, 509–16.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cooper, P. J. & Fairburn, C. G. (1983) Binge-eating and self-induced vomiting in the community: a preliminary study. British Journal of Psychiatry, 142, 139–44.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Crisp, A. H., Hsu, L. K. G., Harding, B. & Hartshorn, J. (1980) Clinical features of anorexia nervosa: a study of a consecutive series of 102 female patients. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 24, 179–91.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Eysenck, H. J. & Eysenck, S. B. G. (1964) Manual of the Eysenck Personality Inventory. London: University of London Press.Google Scholar
Fairburn, C. G. (1983) Bulimia: its epidemiology and management. In Eating and its Disorders, (eds. Stunkard, A. J. and Stellar, E.). New York: Raven Press.Google Scholar
Fairburn, C. G. & Cooper, P. J. (1982) Self-induced vomiting and bulimia nervosa: an undetected problem. British Medical Journal, 284, 1153–5.Google Scholar
Fairburn, C. G. & Cooper, P. J. (1984) Binge-eating, self-induced vomiting and laxative abuse: a community study. Psychological Medicine (in press).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Garner, D. M. & Garfinkel, P. E. (1979) The Eating Attitudes Test: an index of the symptoms of anorexia nervosa. Psychological Medicine, 9, 273–9.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Garner, D. M., Olmstead, M. P., Bohr, Y. & Garfinkel, P. E. (1982) The Eating Attitudes Test: psychometric features and clinical correlates. Psychological Medicine, 12, 871–8.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Geigy (1962) Average weights of adults (Society of Actuaries: Build and Blood Pressure Study, Chicago, 1959). p.623, Documents Geigy. Scientific Tables. Manchester: Geigy Pharmaceuticals.Google Scholar
Hudson, J. I., Pope, H. G., Jonas, J. M. & Yurgelun-Todd, D. (1983) Family history study of anorexia nervosa and bulimia. British Journal of Psychiatry, 142, 133–8, 428–9.Google Scholar
Lacey, J. H. (1982) Compulsive eating. In Dependent Phenomenon. (eds. Marks, J. and Glatt, M.). Lancaster: MTP Press.Google Scholar
Montgomery, S. A. & Asberg, M. (1979) A new depression scale designed to be sensitive to change. British Journal of Psychiatry, 134, 382–9.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pyle, R. L., Mitchell, J. E. & Eckert, E. D. (1981) Bulimia: a report of 34 cases. Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 42, 60–4.Google Scholar
Pyle, R. L., Mitchell, J. E., Eckert, E. D., Halvorson, P. A., Neuman, P. A. & Goff, G. M. (1983) The incidence of bulimia in freshmen college students. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 2, 75–85.Google Scholar
Russell, G. F. M. (1970) Anorexia nervosa: its identity as an illness and its treatment. In Modern Trends in Psychological Medicine vol 2. (ed. Price, J. H.). London: Butterworths.Google Scholar
Russell, G. F. M. (1979) Bulimia nervosa: an ominous variant of anorexia nervosa. Psychological Medicine, 9, 429–48.Google Scholar
Stonehill, E. & Crisp, A. H. (1977) Psychoneurotic characteristics of patients with anorexia nervosa before and after treatment and at follow-up 4–7 years later. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 21, 187–93.Google Scholar
Stunkard, A. J. (1981) Restrained eating: what it is and a new scale to measure it. In The Body Weight Regulatory System: Normal and Disturbed Mechanisms. (ed. Cioffi, L. A.). New York: Raven Press.Google Scholar
Teasdale, J. D., Fennell, M. J. V., Hibbert, G. A. & Amies, P. L. (1983) Cognitive therapy for major depressive disorder in primary care. British Journal of Psychiatry (in press).Google Scholar
Wing, J. K., Cooper, J. E. & Sartorius, N. (1974) The Measurement and Classification of Psychiatric Symptoms. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Wing, J. K., Mann, S. A., Leff, J. P. & Nixon, J. M. (1978) The concept of a ‘case’ in psychiatric population surveys. Psychological Medicine, 8, 203–17.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.