Clinical factors influencing resilience in patients with anorexia nervosa

Abstract

Purpose

This study was to elucidate clinical factors influencing resilience in anorexia nervosa (AN) patients.

Patients and methods

Twenty female patients with AN (median age =30.0 years, quartile deviation =6.8) and 40 female healthy controls (HCs) (median age =30.0 years, quartile deviation =8.6) participated in the present study. Resilience was assessed with the Connor– Davidson resilience scale (CD-RISC). Clinical symptoms were evaluated with the structured interview guide for the Hamilton depression rating scale (SIGH-D) and the eating disorder inventory-2 (EDI-2).

Results

Scores of the CD-RISC in the AN group were lower than those in the HC group, and the SIGH-D score in the AN group was higher than that in the HC group. Scores of interoceptive confusion, interpersonal difficulty and negative self-image subscales of the EDI-2 negatively correlated with the CD-RISC score. Moreover, stepwise regression analysis showed that negative self-image score was an independent predictor of the CD-RISC score.

Conclusion

These results suggest that among these clinical factors including psychopathologies, self-dissatisfaction and feeling of being rejected by others are the most important influencing factors on an AN patients’ resilience.

Keywords:

• anorexia nervosa
• resilience
• influencing factor
• negative self-image

Acknowledgments

The authors should like to thank all subjects for participating in this study.

Disclosure

The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work.