A CONTROLLED-STUDY OF TRAIT NARCISSISM IN ANOREXIA AND BULIMIA-NERVOSA

Introduction: Many theories attribute anorexia and bulimia nervosa to ''pathological narcissism,'' but this conception has not been adequate ly evaluated Method: We compared the scores of 90 eating disorder (ED) sufferers (23 anorexic restricters, 14 anorexic bingers, and 53 bulim ics) with those of 36 psychiatric-control (PC) and 54 normal-control ( NC) females on validated self-report scales measuring Narcissism, Affe ctive Instability, Stimulus Seeking, Compulsivity, and Restricted Expr ession. Results: Narcissism scores of ED patients (whether restricters or bingers/purgers) consistently exceeded those of the PC and NC case s, suggesting that Narcissism does indeed load more heavily in the EDs than in other psychiatric disturbances. Conversely, Affective Instabi lity was characteristic of all clinical cases (i.e., of EDs and PCs), Restricted Expression and Compulsivity were characteristic of restrict ers, and Stimulus Seeking was characteristic of bingers/purgers. Discu ssion: Results are consistent with the notion that different ED varian ts may reflect subtype-specific temperaments and/or adaptive styles ac ting upon shared underlying narcissistic disturbances. (C) 1997 by Joh n Wiley & Sons, Inc.