Eating Disorder and Depression Annotated Bibliography

Eating Disorder and Depression

Annotated Bibliography: What is the Association between Depression and Eating Disorders?

Costa, J., Maroco, J., Gouveia, J., & Ferreira, C. (2016). Shame, self-criticism, perfectionistic self-presentation and depression in eating disorders. International Journal of Psychology and Psychological Therapy, 16(3), 315-328.

This article focuses on the connection between external shame and depression in individuals with eating disorders and the moderating role of self-criticism and perfectionistic self-presentation. Following a cross-sectional survey of 121 women with eating disorder, it was found that shame and perfectionistic self-presentation interact to cause self-criticism, which in turn results in depression. The implication thereto is that, when an individual internalises an ideal self, they gain a standard that as per their comparison with the actual self, results in negative feelings and self-evaluations; the individual perceives their real self as flawed or inferior. Consequently, the individual resorts to perfectionist self-representation so as to create to a positive image on other people's mind. Though this strategy can prevent shame and self-criticism, it potentially leads to eating disorder-related depression. The fairly large sample used is a major strength of the study. Nonetheless, the cross-sectional nature of the study design hinders the derivation of causality conclusions. Additionally, the study only included women. Overall, the study has significant implications for practice in the sense that therapeutic interventions aimed at treating eating disorder-related depression should pay greater attention to helping patients minimise the tendency of perfectionistic self-presentation.

Mustelin, L., Raevuori, A., Kaprio, J., & Keski-Rahkonen, A. (2014). Association between eating disorders and migraine may be explained by major depression. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 47, 884-887.

This longitudinal study sought to examine the relationship between eating disorders and migraine and the moderating effect of depression. The study, which included 2,825 twin women diagnosed with eating disorder, found that subjects with eating disorder were more likely to have migraine compared to those without eating disorder, with the correlation being mediated by major depressive disorder. In essence, the occurrence of migraine was found to be significantly higher in subjects with both eating disorder and depression. In addition to its large sample, the study finds a formerly ignored link between eating disorder, depression, and migraine. This is a valuable addition to the field of psychopathology. Nonetheless, there are important weaknesses. First, the study focused only on women. Also, the target subjects were twins, meaning familial transmission could have been a causal factor. Another limitation…