An attempt at distinguishing subgroups of women with anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa by means of the Defense Mechanism Technique modified (DMTm) and the Eating Disorder Inventory (EDI).

In an attempt to identify diagnostically meaningful subgroups in a group of sixty women 18-34 years of age, 19 of them having a DSM-IV diagnosis of anorexia nervosa and 41 of bulimia nervosa, a hierarchical cluster analysis was performed on their data obtained from the Defense Mechanism Technique modified (DMTm) and the Eating Disorder Inventory (EDI). Variables also taken into account in the cluster analysis were those of the main diagnosis, depression, personality disorder, binge eating, purging, Body Mass Index (BMI), and exercise. Five distinct clusters were found. Six of the eight EDI variables and fourteen of the twenty DMTm variables were represented in the description of the clusters. One anorexic and one bulimic cluster included DMTm signs previously found in patients with fibromyalgia. Two bulimic clusters included DMTm signs previously observed in patients with either distal or total ulcerative colitis. Hysteria was linked with the remaining anorexic cluster. On both EDI and DMTm the two main groups of anorexic and bulimic patients displayed few differences. It was mainly the various constellations of DMTm variables, interpreted in terms of the Andersson developmental and psychodynamic model of the mind, that were crucial for understanding the five clusters obtained.