PERSONALITIES AND ALIMENTARY BEHAVIORS IN OBESE PATIENTS

The actual tendency in the care of obese patients is the association o f dietetic information with an eating behavior therapy. Studies attemp ting to attribute the origin of obesity to psychiatric pathologies are contradictory. We studied whether certain eating disorders are more s pecific to a personality type. We studied eating disorders with the Ea ting Disorder Inventory (EDI) test in 281 obese women compared to 252 age-matched non-obese women. Both obese patients and non-obese volunte ers were divided into four groups depending upon their personality (PE RSONA test). This test defines four types of personality, based on the level of emotion (expansive or reserved) and the degree of power (dom inant or consenting). According to our study, eating disorders vary be tween the four personality groups and were significantly higher in the facilitating group (consenting and expansive) compared to the three o ther obese groups. Neither promoting (expansive and dominant) nor cont rolling obese patients (dominant and reserved) present eating disorder s. The analyzing obese patients (reserved and consenting) are reticent when it comes to consulting (18%) since they distrust others. Analyzi ng obese patients present an interpersonal distrust and an interocepti ve awareness. The group which presents most eating disorders is that o f facilitating obese patients (consenting and expansive). These presen t eating disorders of the compulsive types favored by interoceptive aw areness, body dissatisfaction, ineffectiveness, and maturity fears. Th e diversity, even the absence, of eating disorders brought to evidence by our tests based upon different personality types should allow bett er understanding of the psychological and behavioral causes of weight gain and the means for improving compliance in the following of an obe se patient. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd.