A note on interpersonal sensitivity and psychotic symptomatology in obese adult outpatients with a history of childhood obesity.

The Symptom Checklist 90-Revised (Derogatis, 1975) was administered to 37 obese adults in outpatient treatment for obesity. Individuals who had become obese during childhood showed greater interpersonal sensitivity and exhibited more psychotic symptoms than those who had become obese later in life. The findings support the belief that morbid obesity is characteristically associated with elevated levels of internal psychological conflict.