[Obsessive-compulsive symptoms in structural ego defects--a study exemplified by anorexia and bulimia nervosa]

The present study reports findings concerning the hypothesis whether patients with narcissistic self-system disturbances show more obsessive-compulsive (OC) symptoms as compared to patients without such disturbances. Ninety-one patients meeting DSM-III-R criteria for anorexia nervosa (AN) or bulimia nervosa (BN) were investigated using the Narzissmusinventar (NI), the Hamburger-Zwangsinventar (HZI), the Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale (Y-BOCS) and the Eating Disorder Inventory (EDI). The NI-data demonstrated a great variance of self-system disturbances in AN and BN; a cluster analysis identified two different clinical features. In comparison to eating disorder patients without concomitant disturbances of the self-system (n = 34) the patient group with such narcissistic deficits (n = 57) showed significantly higher Y-BOCS and HZI-scores indicating more and severer OC symptoms. These patients also had significantly higher and hence pathologic means on seven of eight EDI scales. The results suggest that OC behaviour may be an unconscious attempt to stabilize the self-system equilibrium, i.e. counteracting narcisstic desintegration. Regulatory processes of the self-system and OC symptoms may present additional prognostic factors and lead to new approaches in psychotherapy research.