Laxative Eating Disorders: A Case Study

Finding a subgroup of inpatients with eating disorders with the previous history of abusing laxatives containing phenolphthalein was difficult for the researchers (Weltzin, 141). They discovered that bulimic patients who stopped using laxatives were more likely to have higher levels of anxiety (Weltzin, 141). The high level of anxiety caused by the removal of laxative often provoked these patients to flee during their first week of being hospitalized (Weltzin, 141). From this clinical observation, the question whether there is a connection between the use of laxative and anxiety in bulimic patients had arisen (Weltzin, 141).

In Western culture, laxative use is very common. The percent of adult women who disclosed to using laxatives regularly

The study was conducted to determine whether the laxative withdrawal was associated with an increased level of anxiety in bulimics. The research is an observational study. The research was conducted on patients (subjects) with eating disorders who were hospitalized at the University of Pittsburgh, Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic. The subjects were evaluated for “inpatient treatment of bulimia nervosa” after admission, prior to giving their informed contend (Weltzin). DSM-III-R was used to determine whether the patients met the specification for bulimia nervosa. In this study, two group of bulimics were selected from sequential admissions. The first group consisted of seventeen bulimic patients who had never used laxatives but purged by vomiting; and the second group consisted of twenty-three bulimics who had abused laxatives weekly to purge, for at least 3 months (Weltzin, 142). These two bulimic groups all completed a “40-question instrument designed to determine state- and trait-related anxiety” known as the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (Weltzin,

In contrast to the first group (nonlaxative-abusing subjects), the researchers found that the group purging on laxative had scored higher on the STAI-State, but did not on the STAI-Trait scales (Weltzin, 142). The age of these patients, and the duration of their illness “did not correlate with the scores on these scales” nor did their “purging frequency or any other weight characteristics” (Weltzin, 142). The researchers also compared the anxiety ratings in the patients who were given medications (alprazolam to treat their anxiety) during their hospitalization to those patients who did not receive any (Weltzin, 142). The researchers found that the group who was treated with alprazolam had scored higher of state, but not on trait scales compared to the group who were not treated with alprazolam (Weltzin, 142). The foundings of the researchers was that fewer of the patients who did not abuse laxatives (1 of 17) “was treated with alprazolam compared to 12 of the 23 patients” who were abusing laxatives (Weltzin,