Implications of neuropsychological test results of women in a new phase of anorexia nervosa

A study involving 10 female anorectics who satisfied DSM‐III‐R (American Psychiatric Association, 1987) criteria in a new phase of outpatient treatment and 10 healthy female controls matched for age, education, social class, premorbid IQ and geographical habitation, were administered a battery of well‐known neuropsychological tests and rating scales. Personal details concerning subjects' weight history and parents' occupations were also recorded. Significant evidence was found to suggest a difference between the anorectics and the controls on a number of tests and scales. In particular, anorectics performed worse on the third trial of the Auditory Verbal Learning Test and on the Rey‐Osterreith Complex Figure Test (Delayed Recall Trial) possibly implying impairment of the right hemisphere considered to be responsible, in part, for visuospatial ability. This was believed to be one of the reasons for distortion of body image in anorexia nervosa. Strong evidence was also found in support of the coexistence of obsessionality and depression in anorexia nervosa. Since there is growing evidence implicating the caudate nucleus for the obsessionality in obsessive‐compulsive disorder, it was proposed that this association might also be likely to explain the obsessionality in anorexia nervosa, thus supporting hypotheses that propose an organic origin for the condition.