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Obsessions and compulsions in anorexia nervosa subtypes.
Katherine A Halmi1, Suzanne R Sunday, Kelly L Klump
1New York Presbyterian Hospital-Westchester Division, Weill Medical College of Cornell University, 21 Bloomingdale Road, White Plains, NY 10605, USA. kah29@cornell.edu
The International Journal of Eating Disorders
|March 26, 2003
Summary
Anorexia nervosa (AN) patients share some obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) traits, particularly in symmetry and somatic obsessions. While AN subgroups showed lower frequencies in most categories, shared characteristics suggest common neural pathways.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Psychiatry
- Clinical Psychology
Background:
- Obsessions and compulsions in anorexia nervosa (AN) are frequently misidentified as the preoccupations and rituals seen in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).
- Understanding the overlap and distinctions between AN and OCD is crucial for accurate diagnosis and treatment.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the specific types and prevalence of characteristic OCD obsessions and compulsions within a large cohort of AN patients.
- To compare these features between AN subgroups and individuals with diagnosed OCD.
Main Methods:
- Personal interviews were conducted with 324 AN patients to assess lifetime histories of eating disorder symptomatology and obsessive-compulsive behaviors.
- The Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale was utilized, and category sums were compared between AN and OCD subjects using generalized estimating equations.
Main Results:
- Lifetime obsessions and compulsions were reported by 68% of AN restricting type and 79.1% of AN binge/purge type patients.
- AN subgroups showed no difference in the frequency of symmetry and somatic obsessions or ordering and hoarding compulsions compared to OCD controls.
- However, AN subgroups exhibited a significantly lower frequency of obsessions and compulsions in all other categories when compared to OCD controls.
Conclusions:
- Shared phenotypic characteristics between AN and OCD suggest potential common neurobiological pathways.
- Despite shared features, the differences in frequency and type indicate distinct underlying pathological loci within these pathways.