[Social integration of patients with anorexia nervosa and bulimia]

The current study investigated the psychological and social problems of 46 patients with anorexia nervosa and 34 patients with bulimia who met the DSM III-criteria. Data were compared with 50 normal controls, using the "Fragebogen zur Sozialen Integration" (FSI, a German translation of the social adjustment scale-self report) and the Freiburger Persönlichkeitsinventar (FPI, a German personality questionnaire). Women with anorexia nervosa as well as patients with bulimia demonstrated a significant impairment in all areas of social relationships, while there were no differences between these patient groups. On the FPI, both groups reported significantly more depressed, feelings of being nervous, neuroticism and femininity, less sociable and calm than the controls.