The troubled self in women with severe eating disorders (anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa) - A study using interviews, self-reports, and percept-genetic methods

Fifteen anorectic (A) and 13 bulimic (B) patients aged 20-49 years, all ser iously ill, and 21 controls were studied, using a half-structured interview , the Tennessee Self Concept Scale, the tachistoscopic Identity Test (IT), and two other percept-genetic tests. The differences between A and B were n ot particularly pronounced, A patients being on the whole more sensitive an d self-directed, and B patients more depressive and object-directed. The IT differentiated between patients and controls very powerfully with regard t o alexithymia. A type of response in that test, emphasizing the eyes, was s een as a search for guidance. Descriptions of mother were generally negativ e.