The weeping behavior in anorexic and bulimic females

The aim of the study was to examine the proneness, the functions and trigge ring situations of weeping in anorexic and bulimic women, Methods: Particip ants were 36 anorexic and 31 bulimic female patients and 56 age-matched fem ale controls. All women completed the Questionnaire on Adult Crying. We lim ited our study to results on 'crying proneness','functions of crying' and ' determining factors of crying'. Results: Bulimic patients reported to have cried significantly more often in the last 4 weeks, to be more likely to cr y in situations of distress and to have used weeping significantly more oft en as a manipulative behavior than control women. Anorexic patients rated t heir tendency to cry significantly lower and experienced weeping as signifi cantly more negative than controls. Conclusions: Compared to control women, anorexic patients associated weeping with negative feelings as opposed to bulimic patients who appeared to use weeping on an intentional basis. These deviations from control women seem to mirror the introvert character of an orexic patients and the extrovert impulsive personality of patients with bu limia nervosa, respectively. Copyright (C) 1999 S. Karger AG, Basel.