Bulimia and Depression Essay -- Causes of Bulimia, Eating Disorders

Bulimia and Depression The prevalence of eating disorders among American women has increased dramatically in the past decade. In turn, the psychological community has expanded it's scope of research and study by focusing more attention on eating disorders and concentrating on other extended issues related to eating disorders. The desire to distinguish and understand a possible relationship between bulimia nervosa and depression has become a major focus within the field. The purpose of this paper is to introduce the reader to literature from two different journal articles on this relationship. How Are Bulimia and Depression Possibly Related?: Presently, there are two predominant hypotheses on the relationship between bulimia nervosa and depression. The first hypothesis states that bulimia nervosa is an affective variant of depression. (Hinz and Williamson, 1987) This idea came about due to early reports of a high prevalence of clinical depression in bulimics and a high lifetime prevalence of depression in the families of these patients. Recent studies, however, provide evidence that this type of relationship between bulimia and depression is still unconfirmed. (Levy et al., 1989) The second hypothesis constitutes that bulimia is a "distinctive diagnostic entity with a psychopathological process different from that of other mental disorders". (Hinz, et al., 1987) The following articles review the findings of research which effect the level of support for these two hypotheses. Cognitive Comparisons in Defining Bulimia and Depression: Bulimia is characterized by a number of symptoms. Many of these symptoms are also common among depression. Schlesier-Carter, et al., 1989 state that for bulimia, "the distinctiv... ... psychopathological process different from that of other mental disorders". (Hinz, et al., 1987) Further research and study on the relationship between bulimia and depression is highly encouraged. With the high percentage of depression found in bulimic patients, understanding the link between these disorders is essential for treatment development. Bibliography: Hinz, L. and Williamson, D. (1987). "Bulimia and Depression: A Review of the Affective Variant Hypothesis". Psychological Bulletin, 102(1), 150-158. Levy, A., Dixon, K., and Stern, S. (1989). "How are Depression and Bulimia Related". The American Journal of Psychiatry, 146(2), 162-168. Schlesier-Carter, B., Hamilton, S., O'Neil, P., Lydiard, R., and Malcolm, R. "Depression and Bulimia: The Link Between Depression and Bulimic Cognitions". Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 98(3), 322-325.