WAYS OF COPING IN WOMEN WITH EATING DISORDERS

The aim of this study was to investigate the strategies used for copin g with stress in eating disorder patients. Twenty-four anorexia nervos a (AN) patients, 66 bulimia nervosa (BN) patients, and 30 female contr ol subjects completed a revised Ways of Coping Checklist, indicating h ow they dealt with a self-nominated stressor. The AN and BN patients u sed proportionately more avoidance than control subjects. The BN patie nts used proportionately more wishful thinking and sought less social support than control subjects but patients with AN did not differ sign ificantly from either BN or control groups. Patient groups did not dif fer significantly from control subjects on their use of problem-focuse d coping or self-blame, although the use of problem-focused coping was significantly lower, and self-blame significantly higher, with psycho logical problems than with relationship and general problems in all gr oups. Coping failed to predict severity of eating pathology but, in th e patient groups, Beck Depression scores were related positively to av oidant coping (avoidance in BN patients and wishful thinking in AN pat ients) and inversely to problem-focused coping and seeking social supp ort (although the latter just failed to reach significance in the AN g roup). It is concluded that a treatment approach that teaches coping s trategies, as well as removing the obstacles (cognitive, emotional, or practical) that preclude the use of more effective coping, may be a u seful component of treatment.