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The pathological eating behaviour of patients with anorexia nervosa reflects a deficit in planning real-life strategies that can be observed in an experimental setting through the Gambling Task, a tool designed to detect and measure decision-making abilities. We examined the role of Gambling Task performance as a predictor of treatment outcome in anorectic patients, and we evaluated changes in decision-making after clinical improvement. Performance on the Gambling Task was evaluated, and a clinical-nutritional assessment of 38 anorectic patients was carried out before and after a cognitive-behavioural and drug treatment program. Task performance of anorectic patients was compared with that of 30 healthy control participants. Patients who had a better decision-making profile at baseline showed significantly greater improvement in nutritional status. The decision-making deficiency of some anorectic patients is probably linked to those individual features that contribute to the phenomenological expression of the disorder and to its different treatment outcomes.

Previous reports have stressed the implication of Personality Disorders as predictors of a poorer treatment outcome in Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD). The aim of this study was to see whether or not Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder in Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder may be predictive for a poorer outcome to antiobsessive pro-serotonergic pharmacological treatment. For this purpose, 30 OCD patients were divided into two groups according to the presence or absence of Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder. Ten-week standardized treatments with oral SRI drugs were given to look for different outcomes between the two groups in Obsessive-Compulsive symptom severity. At the end of the study we found that the presence of Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder, along with the total number of Personality Disorders, did predict poorer response to pharmacological treatment in OCD. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science B.V. Z8 0 ZR 0 ZS 1 ZB 23