The comorbidity between eating disorders and anxiety disorders

Abstract

Research indicates that eating disorders and anxiety disorders frequently co-occur. The prevalence of anxiety disorders amongst anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa samples has been reported in a number of investigations. Despite the significant number of research papers investigating the comorbidity between eating disorders and anxiety disorders, many are plagued by methodological problems, limiting the usefulness of findings. Furthermore, there is a significant lack of research examining the prevalence of eating disorders among anxiety patients, and as a result, the frequency of eating disorder pathology among patients presenting to specialty anxiety clinics is unclear. The current research investigated the prevalence of comorbid eating and anxiety disorders amongst 152 women presenting for either eating disorder treatment or anxiety disorder treatment. The prevalence of anxiety disorders was determined from a sample of 100 women presenting for inpatient and outpatient eating disorder treatment. The prevalence of eating disorders was determined from a sample of 52 women presenting for outpatient treatment of an anxiety disorder. The current study found that 65% of women with eating disorders also met criteria for at least one comorbid anxiety disorder. Furthermore, 69% reported the onset of the anxiety disorder to precede the onset of the eating disorder. Of the anxiety disorders diagnosed, Social Phobia was most frequently diagnosed (42%) followed by PTSD (26%), GAD (23%), OCD (5%), Panic/Ag (3%) and Specific Phobia (2%). We also found that 13.5% of women presenting for anxiety treatment also met criteria for a comorbid eating disorder. The results of this study suggest that the prevalence of eating and anxiety disorder comorbidity is high. It is hoped that the present research will have significant etiological and therapeutic implications and further the understanding of the development and maintenance of eating disorder pathology.