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Self-harm and aggression in patients with anorexia nervosa

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 August 2021

N. Lebedeva ,
A. Parshukov  and
Y. Chebakova
N. Lebedeva*
Affiliation:
Clinical Psychology, Pirogov Russian National Research Medical University, Moscow, Russian Federation
A. Parshukov
Affiliation:
Psychology, Moscow Institute of Psychoanalysis, Moscow, Russian Federation
Y. Chebakova
Affiliation:
Psychology, Moscow Institute of Psychoanalysis, Moscow, Russian Federation
*
*Corresponding author.

Abstract

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Introduction

Anorexia nervosa (AN) is a complex condition with high comorbidity.

Objectives

This study aims to verify whether patients with AN are more aggressive towards themselves than towards others; namely, we measure the levels of autoaggressive/aggressive ideation, negative emotions regarding self/others, as well as self-harm behavior.

Methods

10 female patients with AN (2 of them also had bulimia nervosa) and 20 female participants of the control group were presented with Structured Interview, Rosenzweig Picture-Frustration Test (P‐F), Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument, Buss-Durkee Hostility Inventory, I-structural Test of Ammon, Boyko Communication Aggression Inventory, Boyko Self-directed Emotion Accumulation Inventory (BSEAI). Mann-Whitney U-test and Pearson’s correlation coefficient were used.

Results

Table 1
Structured interview indicatorControl groupAN patients
Suicide attempts10%60%
Self-harm behavior35%60%
Piercing/tattoos20%50%
Depression (self-report)40%90%

There were no significant differences in aggression levels between groups. However, patients with AN showed less extrapunitive reactions: blaming others, requiring others to resolve the situation (P-F, р=0.013) and more intropunitive reactions: self-blame, feeling responsible/guilty for the situation (P-F, р=0.031). AN patients had more self-directed negative emotions and impulses (BSEAI, р=0.01), more self-harm behavior (see table 1). There were no correlations between autoaggression and aggression scales in the control group, but there were 9 correlations between them in the AN group (p<0.05, r>0.76).

Conclusions

Patients with AN are more inclined to self-blame, negative ideas about themselves, self-harm behavior, but have the same aggression level as the control group. The interconnection of aggression and autoaggression is different in patients with anorexia nervosa compared to the control group.

Disclosure

No significant relationships.

Keywords

anorexia nervosaAggressionself-harm
Type
Abstract
Information
European Psychiatry , Volume 64 , Special Issue S1: Abstracts of the 29th European Congress of Psychiatry , April 2021 , pp. S706
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the European Psychiatric Association
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