Correlation study on personality traits of patients with anorexia nervosa.

Objectives·To investigate the personality traits of patients with anorexia nervosa (AN), and compare the differences of personality traits among different subtypes of AN. Methods·A total of 164 patients with AN treated in the Clinical Psychosomatic Ward and Psychological Counseling Clinic of Shanghai Mental Health Center, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine from July 2013 to July 2018 were selected and 124 healthy controls (HC) were recruited. According to Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (Fifth Edition), AN was divided into restricting type AN (AN-R), binge-purging type AN (AN-BP) and atypical AN. In AN group, 76 cases were AN-R, 81 cases were AN-BP, and 7 cases were atypical AN. The severity of pathological psychological symptoms of AN patients was evaluated by Eating Disorder Examination-questionnaire (EDE-Q 6.0), and the personality traits of perfectionism, impulsivity and self-esteem of AN patients were evaluated by Frost Multidimensional Perfectionism Psychological Scale (FMPS), Barratt Impulsiveness Scale 11th Version (BIS-11) and Self-esteem Scale (SES). Independent sample t test and variance analysis were used to compare the differences between AN-R group and AN-BP group and differences between the AN group and HC group, and correlation analysis was used to analyze the correlation between personality traits and AN clinical symptom. Results·The total FMPS score of the AN group was significantly higher than that of the HC group (P=0.044), and the total score of SES was significantly lower than that of the HC group (P=0.000). The total score of FMPS, non-adaptive dimension score, BIS-11 total score, attentional impulse score, motor impulse score, and unplanned impulse score in the AN-BP group were significantly higher than those in the AN-R group (all P<0.05). Compared with the AN-R group, AN-BP group had significantly lower organization (adaptive dimension) score and SES total score (all P<0.05). The severity of clinical symptoms of AN (EDE-Q 6.0 total score and subscale scores) was positively correlated with perfectionism (FMPS total score) and impulsivity (BIS-11 total score), and negatively correlated with self-esteem (SES total score) (all P=0.000). Conclusion·Patients with AN have perfectionism and low self-esteem. The patients with AN-BP have more perfectionism, high impulsivity and low self-esteem, while the patients with AN-R show low impulsivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]