GLOBAL SELF-ESTEEM AS CONTINGENT ON BODY SATISFACTION AMONG PATIENTS WITH BULIMIA-NERVOSA - LACK OF DIAGNOSTIC SPECIFICITY

Objective:To examine whether the self-esteem of patients with bulimia nervosa was more contingent on body satisfaction than that of nonpsych iatric control and of depressed participants. Method: Patients with bu limia nervosa (selected according to DSM-III-based structured clinical interviews), those with depression (selected based on chart diagnoses ), and nonpsychiatric control samples completed measures of body dissa tisfaction and of global self-esteem. Results: Consistent with past wo rk, we found that body dissatisfaction accounted for a greater amount of global self-esteem among bulimia nervosa patients, as compared to n onpsychiatric control subjects. However, the relation between global s elf-esteem and body dissatisfaction was similar in patients with bulim ia nervosa as in those with depression. Although our depressed group p ossessed bulimic characteristics, this did not appear to account for o ur findings, in that the correlation between body dissatisfaction and sell-esteem was highest among the nonbulimic depressed participants. D iscussion: Our results raise questions about the specific pathognomoni c quality of body satisfaction-dependent self-esteem in bulimia nervos a. (C) 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.