Autonomic Arousal in Eating Disorders: Further Evidence for the Clinical Subdivision of Anorexia Nervosa

Autonomic arousal, measured by skin conductance level and response, was examined in 36 female patients with eating disorders (anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa) and 32 control subjects. No differences were found between the control group and anorexics who lost weight solely through dieting (restricting anorexics). Patients with a diagnosis of bulimia nervosa and anorexics with bulimic features, however, showed fewer spontaneous skin conductance responses and were faster to habituate to 85 dB tones than either controls or restricting anorexic patients. The pattern of findings supports recent views concerning the clinical subdivision of anorexia nervosa.