TREATMENT OR PUNISHMENT

Three groups, a group of women currently suffering from an eating diso rder (ED), one consisting of women who had recovered from an eating di sorder (XED) and the third consisting of women who had never suffered an eating disorder (NED), were compared by means of interview. Respond ents were asked to rate the extent to which they gave themselves treat s and punishments. Results showed that within the NED group, dieters a nd non-dieters were similar in that both tended to claim that they gav e themselves treats but not punishments. Women in the ED group, irresp ective of type of eating disorder suffered, tended to report treating themselves less and punishing themselves more than was the case for th ose who had never suffered an eating disorder. The XED group also appe ared more self-punishing than the NED group, but were ambivalent in th e extent to which they considered they gave themselves treats. On the basis of these results suggestions are made about the direction treatm ent for eating disorders might usefully take.