Obsessive-compulsive symptoms as a correlate of severity in the clinical presentation of eating disorders: measuring the effects of depression.

Obsessive-compulsive symptoms have been related to severity in the clinical presentation of eating disorders, whereas the impact of depression on the correlations between their severity and the severity of eating disorders has not been investigated. This paper assesses the effects of depression in 42 adolescent patients who met DSM-IV criteria for anorexia nervosa or bulimia nervosa by using the Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale (Y-BOCS), the Eating Disorder Inventory (EDI) and the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). The results indicate that patients who show elevated obsessionality and compulsivity on the Y-BOCS display a significantly higher degree of disturbed attitudes and behaviours concerning eating than patients with limited obsessionality and compulsivity. However, when the effects of depression are considered, all the differences found disappear. Our study suggests that depression is more directly associated with the severity of eating disorders than obsessive-compulsive symptoms and that the intensity of obsessive-compulsive symptoms in eating disorders is influenced by the intensity of depression. The relations between obsessive-compulsive symptoms, depression and eating disorders are not known. Even so this study highlights the importance of assessing depression when using obsessive and compulsive symptoms as a correlate of severity in the clinical presentation of eating disorders.