Depression in Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia Nervosa: Discriminating Depressive Symptoms and Episodes

The ability of the Beck Depression Inventory to distinguish patients who met criteria for concurrent major depression from those who did not was tested among 198 female patients with anorexia nervosa or bulimina nervosa. 43% of subjects met the criteria for major depression. 5 items from Beck’s inventory, including suicidal ideation, correctly classified approximately 80% of subjects into “depression-positive” or “depression-negative” categories. (26 refs.)