TY - JOUR
T1 - Anorexia nervosa, weight restoration and biological siblings
T2 - Differences and similarities in clinical characteristics
AU - Phillipou, Andrea
AU - Gurvich, Caroline
AU - Castle, David J.
AU - Rossell, Susan L.
N1 - Funding Information:
The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This research was supported by the St Vincent’s Hospital Research Endowment Fund and the Barbara Dicker Brain Sciences Foundation. Dr Phillipou is supported by a National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Project Grant (CIA: GNT1159953). Prof Rossell holds an NHMRC Senior Research Fellowship (GNT1154651).
Publisher Copyright:
© The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists 2022.
PY - 2022/8
Y1 - 2022/8
N2 - Objective: Anorexia nervosa (AN) is associated with clinical characteristics including eating disorder symptomatology, negative mood states, perfectionism and cognitive inflexibility. Whether these characteristics differ across illness stages, and are also present in first-degree relatives, demonstrating heritability, is unclear. The aim of this research was to compare current AN (c-AN), weight-restored AN (wr-AN), sisters of individuals with AN (AN-sis) and healthy controls (HC) on these measures. Method: Eighty participants (n = 20/group) completed the study. Results: Eating disorder symptomatology was similar among c-AN and wr-AN groups, whereas the AN-sis did not differ from either wr-AN or HC. Anxiety was significantly higher in c-AN, wr-AN and AN-sis groups, relative to HC. Increased perfectionism was identified in the c-AN and wr-AN groups compared to AN-sis and HC on the ‘concern over mistakes’, ‘personal standards’ and ‘doubt and actions’ subscales of the Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale. Group differences were not apparent on cognitive flexibility. Conclusions: These findings suggest that anxiety may be a risk factor or linked to genetic susceptibility for AN, as well as specific aspects of perfectionism that relate to self-imposed standards.
AB - Objective: Anorexia nervosa (AN) is associated with clinical characteristics including eating disorder symptomatology, negative mood states, perfectionism and cognitive inflexibility. Whether these characteristics differ across illness stages, and are also present in first-degree relatives, demonstrating heritability, is unclear. The aim of this research was to compare current AN (c-AN), weight-restored AN (wr-AN), sisters of individuals with AN (AN-sis) and healthy controls (HC) on these measures. Method: Eighty participants (n = 20/group) completed the study. Results: Eating disorder symptomatology was similar among c-AN and wr-AN groups, whereas the AN-sis did not differ from either wr-AN or HC. Anxiety was significantly higher in c-AN, wr-AN and AN-sis groups, relative to HC. Increased perfectionism was identified in the c-AN and wr-AN groups compared to AN-sis and HC on the ‘concern over mistakes’, ‘personal standards’ and ‘doubt and actions’ subscales of the Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale. Group differences were not apparent on cognitive flexibility. Conclusions: These findings suggest that anxiety may be a risk factor or linked to genetic susceptibility for AN, as well as specific aspects of perfectionism that relate to self-imposed standards.
KW - anxiety
KW - eating disorder
KW - perfectionism
KW - recovery
KW - sisters
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85125075904&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1177/10398562211067194
DO - 10.1177/10398562211067194
M3 - Article
C2 - 35138958
AN - SCOPUS:85125075904
SN - 1039-8562
VL - 30
SP - 458
EP - 461
JO - Australasian Psychiatry
JF - Australasian Psychiatry
IS - 4
ER -
