Dysfunctional cognitions, attributional style, and depression in bulimia

A group of 44 bulimic women (DSM-III) as well as 38 women with no indication of an eating disorder, comparable with respect to age, weight and height, were studied by means of the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), the Dysfunctional Attitude Scale (DAS), the Attributional Style Questionnaire (ASQ), and an Eating Disorder Questionnaire (EDQ). Bulimics showed significantly higher BDI, DAS and ASQ (bad events) scores, respectively. In both groups BDI scores were significantly correlated with DAS and ASQ (bad events) results. BDI was highly predictive of severity of bulimia while no significant prediction was obtained from either DAS or ASQ (bad events) scores. The findings provide first evidence that dysfunctional attitudes and depressive attributional style are predominant in bulimic women but at the same time are not necessarily predictive of the severity of the disorder.