The characteristic relentless self-starvation behavior seen in Anorexia Nervosa (AN) has been described as evidence of compulsivity, with increasing suggestion of parallels with addictive behavior. This study used a thematic qualitative analysis to investigate the parallels between compulsive behavior in AN and Substance Use Disorders (SUD). Forty individuals currently suffering from AN completed an online questionnaire reflecting on their experience of compulsive behavior in AN. Eight main themes emerged from thematic qualitative analysis; compulsivity as central to AN, impaired control, escalating compulsions, emotional triggers, negative reactions, detrimental continuation of behavior, functional impairment, and role in recovery. These results suggested that individuals with AN view the compulsive nature of their behavior as central to the maintenance of their disorder, and as a significant barrier to recovery. The themes that emerged also showed parallels with the DSM-V criteria for SUDs, mapping onto the four groups of criteria (impaired control, social impairment, risky use of substance, pharmacological criteria). These results emphasize the need for further research to explore the possible parallels in behavioral and neural underpinnings of compulsivity in AN and SUDs, which may inform novel treatment avenues for AN.
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 10. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 18 June 2021.
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#3,792,986
of 26,480,347 outputs
Outputs from Frontiers in Psychology
#7,058
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Outputs of similar age
#48,200
of 294,927 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Frontiers in Psychology
#113
of 522 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 26,480,347 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done well and is in the 85th percentile: it's in the top 25% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 35,462 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 13.8. This one has done well, scoring higher than 79% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 294,927 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has done well, scoring higher than 83% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 522 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has done well, scoring higher than 78% of its contemporaries.
