Eating in anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa: An application of the tripartite model of anxiety.

Abstract
This study investigated anxiety before, during, and after eating, as well as during an earlier neutral activity, in anorexic, bulimic, and normal-weight females. Anxiety was assessed by self-report (ratings of pleasure, arousal, and anxiety), psychophysiological (heart rate and skin conductance), and behavioural (food consumption) measures. Controls reported little or no anxiety and ate almost all of the test meal. The eating disordered subjects reported a high level of anxiety throughout the study. Bulimics and controls ate similar amounts, whereas the anorexics ate much less. Psychophysiological arousal during eating was high in all groups. The results underscore the critical role of anxiety in the context of eating in eating disorders and provide limited support for the utility of assessing anxiety with the three-response system.

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