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[Self-esteem: a comparison study between eating disorders and social phobia].
R Eiber1, L Vera, C Mirabel-Sarron
1Clinique des Maladies Mentales et de l'Encéphale, Hôpital Sainte-Anne, et Université René Descartes, Paris IV, Faculté de Médecine Cochin-Port-Royal, 75014 Paris.
L'Encephale
|March 18, 2003
Summary
Eating disorder patients and social phobia patients share low self-esteem, but eating disorder patients exhibit distinct social and professional self-esteem deficits, alongside higher assertiveness and depression scores. This highlights differences in self-esteem characteristics between these conditions.
Area of Science:
- Psychology
- Psychiatry
- Clinical Psychology
Background:
- Eating disorders are frequently associated with low self-esteem, often linked to body dissatisfaction and social anxiety.
- The relationship between body image, social anxiety, and self-esteem in eating disorder patients requires further investigation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To compare self-esteem levels and characteristics between patients with eating disorders and those with social phobia.
- To investigate the influence of depressive cognitions and social phobia on self-esteem in eating disorder patients.
Main Methods:
- 103 eating disorder patients (anorexia subtypes, bulimia) and 26 social phobia patients were assessed using the Self-Esteem Inventory (SEI), Rathus Assertiveness Schedule, Fear Survey Schedule (FSS III), and Beck Depression Inventory (BDI).
- Patients were medication-free and free of major depressive episodes at the time of evaluation, prior to psychotherapy.
Main Results:
- Eating disorder patients and social phobia patients exhibited similarly low self-esteem.
- Eating disorder patients scored significantly higher on the Social and Professional sub-scales of the SEI and on the Rathus Assertiveness Schedule compared to social phobia patients.
- Eating disorder patients had higher Beck Depression Inventory scores, but self-esteem levels did not differ between eating disorder patients with depressive cognitions and social phobia patients with depressive cognitions. Fear Survey Schedule scores were lower in eating disorder patients.
Conclusions:
- Self-esteem is comparably low in both eating disorder and social phobia patients, but its nature differs.
- Eating disorder patients show distinct deficits in social and professional self-esteem and higher assertiveness compared to social phobia patients.
- Self-esteem in eating disorders is not influenced by Body Mass Index and is uniformly low across different eating disorder subtypes.