The relationship between selflessness levels and the severity of anorexia nervosa symptomatology |
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| Authors: | Rachel Bachner‐Melman Ada H. Zohar Richard P. Ebstein Eytan Bachar |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Psychology Department, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel;2. Behavioral Sciences, Ruppin Academic Center, Emek Hefer, Israel;3. Research Laboratory, Sarah Herzog Memorial Hospital, Jerusalem, Israel;4. Department of Psychiatry, Hadassah University Medical Center, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel |
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| Abstract: | This study examined the relationship of selflessness, the tendency to ignore one's own needs and interests and serve others, to the severity of anorexia nervosa (AN) symptomatology. Measures of selflessness, perfectionism, obsessiveness, self‐esteem, disordered eating, body dissatisfaction, drive for thinness and general symptomatology were completed by 205 women with a history of AN (ANh) in various stages of illness and recovery (42 ill, 90 partially recovered and 78 recovered) and 238 female controls. The ANh women's scores on the Selflessness Scale declined significantly as the severity of current pathology decreased. Recovered anorexics scored similarly to female controls. Assertion of one's own needs and interests may be an integral component of recovery from AN, and should be emphasized in therapy. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and Eating Disorders Association. |
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| Keywords: | selflessness anorexia nervosa |
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