Obsessive compulsive symptoms at initial presentation of adolescent eating disorders

An association between obsessive compulsive disorder and eating disorders has often been reported in the literature. It has been suggested that the association may be accounted for by depression, starvation or family factors but the literature remains inconclusive. In this study self-report scales were used to measure eating attitudes, obsessional symptoms, depressive symptoms and family functioning in an eating disordered group, a psychiatric control group and in the parents of both groups. The eating disordered group scored significantly higher than controls on the Maudsley Obsessive Compulsive Inventory and the Leyton Obsessional Inventory but not on the Childhood Depression Inventory. The differences were not correlated with Quetelet's Body Mass Index. Both groups of parents scored within the normal range for all scales. The high obsessional scores in the anorexic group seem to be due to high scoring on items relating to perfectionism. The role of perfectionism as a risk factor for the development of eating disorders and OCD is discussed.