BACKGROUND: It is important to determine the optimal manner of categorising eating disorder patients so as to aid in the understanding of their specific psychopathological state. METHOD: We compared subgroups of eating disorder patients divided according to different sets of factors, using a structured interview which elicits the specific psychopathological features of these illnesses. The patients, comprising 116 consecutive women admitted to two university-affiliated eating disorder clinics, were grouped according to DSM-III-R criteria, clinical presentation (purging, binge eating), nutritional status, and age. RESULT: The clearest separation of groups was afforded by the clinical dimension of purging as opposed to not purging. This was superior to DSM-III-R criteria. Other systems, such as presence of binge eating, and various levels of nutritional status and of age, were clearly inferior. CONCLUSION: The presence or absence of purging behaviour appears to offer the most heuristic means of categorising eating disorder patients with respect to their specific psychopathological state.
BACKGROUND: It is important to determine the optimal manner of categorising eating disorderpatients so as to aid in the understanding of their specific psychopathological state. METHOD: We compared subgroups of eating disorderpatients divided according to different sets of factors, using a structured interview which elicits the specific psychopathological features of these illnesses. The patients, comprising 116 consecutive women admitted to two university-affiliated eating disorder clinics, were grouped according to DSM-III-R criteria, clinical presentation (purging, binge eating), nutritional status, and age. RESULT: The clearest separation of groups was afforded by the clinical dimension of purging as opposed to not purging. This was superior to DSM-III-R criteria. Other systems, such as presence of binge eating, and various levels of nutritional status and of age, were clearly inferior. CONCLUSION: The presence or absence of purging behaviour appears to offer the most heuristic means of categorising eating disorderpatients with respect to their specific psychopathological state.