Voorspellers van herstel: De relatie tussen persoonlijkheidskenmerken en herstel van Anorexia Nervosa.

Abstract

Purpose: Previous research has shown that personality traits are predictors of recovery for patients with Anorexia Nervosa. However, some of this research has been limited and results so far were not consistent. Moreover, most studies have defined recovery based on bodily measures, with no mention of psychological measures. Since diagnostic criteria for AN include both bodily and psychological factors, in the current study both were used to define recovery, in order to examine the relationship between several specific personality traits and recovery of AN. Method: In this 5-year prospective follow-up study sixty-one female AN patients were included. The prognostic power of the personality traits were measured by the Eating Disorder Inventory and the Temperament and Characteristic Questionnaire. Recovery at follow-up was measured by BMI, menstruation and the Body Attitude Test. Based on both these bodily and psychological factors, three categories of outcome were defined: no recovery, partial recovery and full recovery from AN. Results: High cooperativeness appeared to be of marginal prognostic power for recovery of AN. Furthermore, low persistence had a significant positive influence on recovery and low fear of maturity contributed significantly to partial recovery. Low harm avoidance had a marginal positive effect on recovery. Conclusion: This study supported previous research that personality traits contribute to recovery of AN. It is important to extend this research, because treatment for AN patients can be improved by incorporating those characteristics that are important to establish recovery.