ANXIETY DISORDERS AND EATING DISORDERS - A REVIEW OF THEIR RELATIONSHIP

Historically, the comparative phenomenology of anxiety and eating diso rders has been examined from three perspectives. First, parallels in s ympaomatology such as the similarity between binging and purging in bu limia or eating-related rituals in anorexia and compulsive behaviour i n obsessive compulsive disorder, or between the fear of negative evalu ation in both eating disorders and social phobia, have suggested to so me a similar underlying psychopathology with symptom expression in dif ferent domains. Second, patterns of comorbidity and family history hav e been studied in both clinical and epidemiological samples of women w ith eating disorders and have suggested elevated rates of anxiety diso rders in both eating disordered probands and their family members. Thi rd, both behavioural and pharmacological treatments known to be effect ive in the anxiety disorders have been applied successfully to the tre atment of eating disorders (e.g. exposure with response prevention and fluoxetine for bulimia). In the absence of prospective studies, these three lines of evidence converge td suggest a modest association betw een eating and anxiety disorders. The present paper reviews and integr ates evidence from the above three perspectives in an attempt to deter mine the nature of the relation between anxiety and eating disorders.