Depression and psychosocial adjustment in adolescent anorexia nervosa. A controlled 3-year follow-up study

This study investigated depressive psychopathology and psychosocial functioning in adolescent anorexia nervosa patients at a three year follow-up in comparison to healthy age-matched controls. Three standardized rating instruments (HRSD, SDS, BDI) were used for assessing depression and the Morgan-Russell scales for defining the outcome of the eating disorder. Our findings suggest 1) a highly positive correlation between eating disorder and depressive psychopathology; 2) recovered anorectics score higher on depression scales than healthy controls; 3) recovered and unrecovered anorectics are similar to age-matched controls in terms of occupational adjustment, social contacts and dependency on family, but differ significantly in psychosexual functioning.