Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7fkt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T07:24:51.410Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Homogamy: the Relationships and Sexual Partners of Normal-Weight Bulimic Women

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

J. Hubert Lacey
J. Hubert Lacey*
Affiliation:
Department of Mental Health Sciences, St George's Hospital Medical School, Cranmer Terrace, London SW17 0RE
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This study reports the demography, weight, and alcohol and psychiatric histories of the sexual partners of 112 consecutive patients with bulimia nervosa, all from an urban catchment area. Seventy-three patients (65%) had a current sexual partner. The partners were of similar social background, but slightly older. On average, partners were overweight (110% of MMPW) and over 27% reported having an eating or weight problem. A quarter of the partners had been treated for a psychiatric or emotional disorder. Nearly 40% drank more than 36 units of alcohol a week, and 14% had received treatment or consulted a doctor for alcohol-related problems. Heavy-drinking partners and multi-impulsive bulimics sought out each other. A quarter of partners had themselves been raised in a nuclear family in which a member had received psychiatric treatment; 12% had had a mother or sister with an eating disorder. Thirty-seven per cent of patients used a ‘safe man’, their fear of being hurt stemming from low self-esteem and a general sense of ‘failure’, and for 11% the relationship was abusive.

Type
Papers
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 161 , Issue 5 , November 1992 , pp. 638 - 642
Copyright
Copyright © 1992 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 (1987) Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (3rd edn, revised) (DSM–III–R). Washington, DC: APA.Google Scholar
Crisp, A. H. (1970) Anorexia nervosa: feeding disorder, nervous malnutrition or weight phobia. World Review of Nutrition and Diet, 12, 452–504.Google Scholar
Crisp, A. H. (1980) Anorexia Nervosa: Let Me Be. London: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Dally, P. (1969) Anorexia Nervosa. London: William Heinemann.Google Scholar
Fairburn, C. G. & Cooper, P. J. (1984) The clinical features of bulimia nervosa. British Journal of Psychiatry, 144, 238–246.Google Scholar
Garner, D. M., Garfinkel, P. E. & O'Shaughnessy, M. (1985) Validity of the distinction between bulimia with and without anorexia nervosa. American Journal of Psychiatry, 142, 581–587.Google ScholarPubMed
Hafner, R. J. (1986) Marriage and Mental Illness – A Sex Role's Perspective. New York: Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Kemsley, W. F. F. (1952) Body weight at different ages and heights. Annals of Eugenics, 16, 316–334.Google Scholar
Lacey, J. H. (1982) The bulimic syndrome at normal body-weight: reflections on pathogenesis and clinical features. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 2, 59–66.Google Scholar
Lacey, J. H. (1983) Bulimia nervosa, binge-eating and psychogenic vomiting: a controlled treatment study and long-term outcome. British Medical Journal, 286, 1609–1631.Google Scholar
Lacey, J. H. (1984) Time-limited, individual and group treatment for bulimia. In Handbook of Psychotherapy for Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia (eds D. M. Garner & P. E. Garfinkel). New York: Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Lacey, J. H. (1986) An integrated behavioural and psychodynamic approach to the treatment of bulimia. British Review of Bulimia and Anorexia Nervosa, 1, 19–26.Google Scholar
Lacey, J. H. (1990) Incest, incestuous fantasy and indecency: a clinical catchment area study of normal-weight bulimic women. British Journal of Psychiatry, 157, 399–403.Google Scholar
Lacey, J. H. (1992) The treatment demand for bulimia: a catchment area report of referral rates and demography. Psychiatric Bulletin, 16, 203–205.Google Scholar
Lacey, J. H., Coker, S. & Birtchnell, S. A. (1986) Bulimia: factors associated with etiology and maintenance. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 5, 475–487.Google Scholar
Lacey, J. H., & Evans, C. D. H. (1986) The impulsivist: a multi-impulsive personality disorder. British Journal of Addiction, 81, 715–723.Google Scholar
Merikangas, K. R. (1982) Assortative mating for psychiatric disorders and psychological traits. Archives of General Psychiatry, 39, 1173–1180.Google Scholar
Office of Population Censuses and Surveys (1982) Census, 1981: Sex, Age and Marital Status (CEN 81. SAM). London: HMSO.Google Scholar
Russell, G. F. M. (1979) Bulimia nervosa: an ominous variant of anorexia nervosa. Psychological Medicine, 9, 429–448.Google Scholar
Van den Broucke, S. & Vandereycken, W. (1989) The marital relationship of patients with an eating disorder: a questionnaire study. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 8, 541–556.Google Scholar
World Health Organization (1978) Mental Disorders: Glossary and Guide to their Classification in Accordance with the Ninth Revision of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD–9). Geneva: WHO.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.