Are anorexia nervosa and bulimia variants of affective disorders?

Abstract

There exists a growing tendency to view anorexia nervosa and bulimia as special forms of depressive illness. An association between eating disorders and affective disorders has been increasingly reported in the recent literature but it still remains a controversial issue. This is due to the confusing data from studies on this association in the following areas: phenomenology, course of illness, biological research, family history, and treatment response. Though some association between eating disorders and mood disturbances is incontrovertible, the hypothesis that anorexia nervosa is just a variant of affective disorder has not been proven. There is more evidence that the aforementioned association--whatever its real nature--prevails more clearly in a subgroup of bulimic patients.