Personality dimensions among women with an eating disorder: towards reconceptualizing DSM.

Objective: To evaluate the incremental validity of a dimensional assessment of personality, after controlling for diagnostic category, in accounting for meaningful variation in eating disorder attitudes and behaviours and in current affective distress among a clinical sample of eating disordered women.

Methods: 244 treatment seeking eating disordered women and 116 non-eating disordered women were assessed with the NEO five factor inventory (NEO-FFI), and with measures of eating disorder attitudes and of affective distress using a cross sectional design.

Results: As predicted, differences were found between eating disordered and non-eating disordered women on several NEO-FFI scales, which provided a context for subsequent analyses. NEO-FFI scales accounted for meaningful variation in eating disordered attitudes and behaviours as well as in levels of current affective distress over and above DSM-IV diagnostic category.

Conclusion: A flexible approach to diagnosis, which includes personality dimensions along with a description of eating disorder symptoms, may result in a more inclusive and useful diagnostic scheme for treating women with eating disorders.