Dissociative Symptoms in Eating Disorders: zyxw A Follow-Up Study Johan Vanderlinden, Walter Vandereycken and Michel Probst The presence of dissociative symptoms was studied in 62 eating-disordered patients at admission zyxwvuts to a specialized unit, after 6 months and again after one year. Scores zy 071 the Dissociation Questionnaire (DIS-Q) decreased in restricting anorectics and bulimia newosa patients, but remained virtually unchanged for bingeing zyx and purging anorectics. Higher scores on the DIS-Q (especially on its amnesia subscale) were found in patients who also reported traumatic experiences in their childhood. zy A negative body experience was shown to be a strong predictor of DIS-Q scores at follow-up. INTRODUCTION In recent years, researchers have begun systematically to study the presence of dissociative symptoms in eating disorders. Sanders (1986) showed that compared to normal controls, college students with binge eating reported a higher degree of dissociative phenomena. The finding that eating disorder patients demonstrate significantly higher levels of dissociative psychopathology than control subjects has been confirmed in other studies (Covino et al., 1994; Dalle Grave et al., 1995; Demitrack et al., 1990; Goldner et al., 1991). Herzog and colleagues (1993) studied both the presence of child sexual abuse (CSA) and dissociative symptoms in 20 eating disorder patients. Subjects with a history of CSA had significantly higher scores on the Dissociative Experiences Scale (DES; Bemstein and Pumam, 1986). A relationship between dissociative experiences and eating disorders has also been reported by Everill et al. (1995). In a non-clinical group of undergraduates, specific dissociative styles were found to be linked with bulimic attitudes (as measured with the Eating Attitudes Test), and the eatingdisordered group showed an association between the scores of the DES and the frequency of bingeing. Other researchers studied the severity of dissociative symptoms in eating disorders. In a sample of 38 eating disordered patients, McCallum et al. (1992) z CCC 10724133/95/030174-11 8 1995 by zyxwvutsrq John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. and Eating Disorders Association European Eating Disorders Review 3(3), 174-184 (1995)