THE ROLE OF COGNITIONS IN BULIMIA-NERVOSA

This research investigated several characteristics of the cognitions of 15 bulimics, 15 repetitive dieters, and 15 nonbulimic, nondieting women using an in vivo thought-sampling procedure. Following training, subjects self-monitored their thoughts every 30 min for two randomly selected days. Subjects' cognitions were rated by independent raters on content, affective tone, accuracy, and adherence to a dichotomous thinking style. Results indicated bulimics reported significantly greater proportions of eating- and weight-related thoughts than non-eating-disordered control subjects and significantly greater proportions of negative affective thoughts than repetitive dieters and non-eating-disordered control subjects. Furthermore, bulimics were significantly more likely to report distorted eating- and weight-related thoughts than the remaining groups. While bulimics were not significantly more preoccupied with thoughts of food independent of eating, thoughts of weight and body shape composed a significantly greater proportion of their eating- and weight-related thoughts than those of the remaining groups. Theoretical and clinical implications of these findings are discussed. © 1991 Plenum Publishing Corporation.