Psychiatric diagnoses in recovered and unrecovered anorectics 22 years after onset of illness: a pilot study.

Sixteen female anorectics, nine recovered and seven unrecovered, were interviewed 22 years after onset of illness. Concomitant psychiatric diagnoses were much more common among the unrecovered patients, but three recovered patients have had a major depressive episode occurring after recovery from their eating disorder. The findings point to a linkage between eating and affective disorders and the mechanisms of such a linkage are briefly discussed.