To evaluate various psychological constructs used in formulations of anorexia and bulimia nervosa, we compared 76 eating-disordered, 20 psychiatric, and 24 normal women on measures of irrational cognitions, object-relations disturbances, and defense style. The eating-disordered group exhibited more disturbance on all measures than normals and many pathological elevations relative to psychiatric controls. Despite these differences, common qualitative features were identified in all patient groups, suggesting that formulations based on the factors examined alone, while useful in providing an understanding of patients' issues, will be inadequate to account for eating-disorder development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]