The emergence of eating disorders: An exploratory study

Inspired by 'Grounded Theory' we investigated the way patients themselves v iew the emergence of their eating disorders. Subjects were 125 female patie nts, between 18 and 24 years of age (AN, n = 22; BN, n = 65; EDNOS, n = 38) , from an earing disorder outpatient unit in Goteborg, Sweden. The intervie wees' responses were analysed using the following dimensions: (1) age of on set, (2) why the disordered eating behaviour started and (3) what I did at the time. The stated mean age of onset was 16 years of age and significantl y higher for AN (17.3 years) than for BN (15.5 years) and EDNOS (15.8 years ) patients. Interpersonal and weight-related problems were reported to be t he most common cause, independent of diagnosis and dieting or dieting/purgi ng was the most commonly reported response. A combination of interpersonal and weight-related Problems, together with dieting behaviour, constitutes t he main risk factor for the emergence of eating disorders according to pati ents' own views. Copyright (C) 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and Eating Disor ders Association.