Dependency and eating disorders in female psychiatric inpatients

Research indicates that oral dependent and eating-disordered individuals have similar personality traits, attitudes, and behaviors, suggesting that dependency may be a factor in the dynamics of anorexia and bulimia. To investigate this issue, we compared the proportions of dependent and food-related percepts in the Rorschach protocols of matched samples of eating-disordered (N = 16), obese (N = 18), and non-eating-disordered, normal-weight female psychiatric inpatients (N = 17). Eating-disordered patients reported significantly more dependent Rorschach imagery than did obese or normal-weight control patients, but no difference in the proportion of food-related imagery was found among the three groups. These results support the hypothesis that unresolved dependency issues underlie anorexia and bulimia.