Personality pathology and its influence on eating disorders.

Personality disorders appear to be present in a significant minority of individuals with eating disorders. For example, in contrast to reported rates in the general population of eight percent, obsessive compulsive personality is present in approximately 22 percent of individuals with anorexia, restricting type. Likewise, in contrast to rates in the general population of six percent, borderline personality is present in approximately 25 percent of individuals with anorexia nervosa, binge-eating purging type, and in 28 percent of individuals with bulimia nervosa. Could these high rates of comorbidity indicate a partially causal relationship? At the very least, these specific personality disorders may be shaping corresponding styles of eating pathology, with obsessive compulsive personality disorder partially accounting for restrictive eating pathology and borderline personality disorder partially accounting for impulsive eating pathology. These potential associations are explored.