Substance Use Disorder, Borderline Personality Disorder Common in Patients With Eating Disorders

More than half of patients with eating disorders have at least one other psychiatric condition such as substance use disorder (SUD) or borderline personality disorder, suggests astudy in theInternational Journal of Eating Disorders. In addition, symptoms of eating disorders are more severe in those who have either SUD or borderline personality disorder.Thomas J. Weigel, M.D., of McLean Hospital in Belmont, Mass., and colleagues analyzed the records of 479 patients who were in a residential treatment program for an eating disorder for at least 30 days between mid-November 2010 and mid-September 2014. Patients completed surveys to screen for SUDs and borderline personality disorder when they entered treatment. They also took the Eating Disorder Examination-Questionnaire (EDE-Q) —which evaluates the severity and frequency of eating disorder symptoms—when they entered treatment and every two weeks until they were discharged.The researchers found that 55% of the patients with an eating disorder screened positive for SUD and/or borderline personality disorder when entering treatment. Among all patients, 41.3% screened positive for SUD, 33.2% screened positive for borderline personality disorder, and 19.4% screened positive for both. Furthermore, those with another condition in addition to an eating disorder had higher scores on the EDE-Q.The researchers also tracked how the patients ’ eating disorder symptoms changed as treatment progressed. They found that symptoms improved ...
Source: Psychiatr News - Category: Psychiatry Tags: borderline personality disorder eating disorder International Journal of Eating Disorders residential treatment program substance use disorder Thomas Weigel Source Type: research