Self-mutilation eating disorders may be linked: college women.(Clinical Rounds)

DENVER -- Cutting behavior is closely associated with bingeing and purging in female college students, Wendy D. Hoyt, Ph.D., reported at an international conference of the Academy for Eating Disorders.

This finding in a large epidemiologic survey is consistent with the notion that intentional cutting behavior and eating disorders represent forms of self-harmful behavior that may serve similar functions, including tension reduction, a purgative effect, avoidance of negative situations, and nonverbal expression of emotions, according to Dr. Hoyt of the River Centre Clinic in Sylvania, Ohio.

She mailed a 59-question survey on impulsive behaviors to 4,000 randomly selected undergraduate students at a large public university. The survey was designed to assess comorbidity of three classes of self-harm: cutting behavior, eating disorders, and alcohol/drug use. The questionnaire was completed and returned by 1,206 female and 735 male students.

Twelve percent of female students: reported having engaged in deliberate cutting behavior. Fifty-seven percent of them indicated that they first engaged in this form of self-mutilation by age 15; only 11.5% first cut themselves after the age of 18. Forty-three percent of the females said they had scars as a result of the self-cutting, and ...