The relationship between affective disorder and eating disorders: a review of the literature

The authors review the relationship between affective disorder and anorexia nervosa and bulimia across five lines of inquiry: clinical reports, psychometrics, family history, drug studies, and follow-up investigations. They conclude that affective disorder and eating disorders are related but that the nature of the relationship is unclear. After discussing possible mediating patterns, the authors propose an interactive, multidetermined understanding as the most appropriate model. They recommend that future research in this area attempt to identify subpopulations of patients with affective disorder and eating disorders by means of a longitudinal, multilevel strategy with serial determinations.