A comparison of the psychological evaluation of adolescents with anorexia nervosa and of adolescents with conduct disorders

Cognitive and projective psychological tests were administered to ten inpatient adolescents with anorexia nervosa and ten inpatient adolescents with conduct disorders. All subjects were selected on the basis of race, sex and overall intelligence. Results indicate that there are high numbers of neuropsychological deficits in both groups, but that neuropsychological deficits are especially numerous in the anorexia group. The two groups showed striking similarities in terms of some psychological functions, but results indicate that some aspects of personality style in the two groups are significantly different. A significant finding was that there were far more suicidal indicators on the Rorschach records of the anorectic group as compared with those found on the records of the conduct disorder group.