Psychological characteristics and biofeedback mitigation in preadolescents with eating disorders

Anorexia and bulimia nervosa are considered to be the most serious eating disorders in female adolescents, with a multifactorial etiology and severe medical complications. It is interesting to investigate the specific relationships of these diseases to emotional stress, coping mechanisms and biofeedback mitigation.

The study comprised 76 obese and 27 anorectic girls, as well as 35 healthy girls as a control group. Psychological assessment was performed using the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire, Emotional Profile Index, General Anxiety Scale, Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory and Cornell Medical Index. The therapy was multimodal, including a biofeedback relaxation system based on electrodermal response (EDR).

Scores obtained from psychometric instruments, in particular concerning basic anxiety, intrafamily conflicts, self-defense and depression, showed that anorexia nervosa and hyperphagia are specifically stress related. Personality characteristics and the environment, as models for habits, modified the manner of coping with stress differently for anorexia and hyperphagia. The EDR biofeedback was shown to be an effective support for mitigation of eating disorders in preadolescents, with better results for anorectic girls. The correlated difference in personality profiles suggested the use of specific animated sequences.

The results confirmed the hypothesis that obesity and anorexia nervosa could be related to different types of emotional stress and coping mechanisms, and accordingly be differently mediated by biofeedback technique.