Different But The Same?

This post is inspired by a research talk I went to a few days ago, which in basic terms was to do with the relationships between eating disorder (ED) symptoms and emotional processing difficulties.  As you might expect intuitively, there was found to be a greater incidence of emotion processing difficulties amongst ED patients than that their healthy counterparts.  There were some other interesting findings, but the thing that really got me thinking was something not covered by the researchers… 

An explanation of correlations - in case you don't know!!

Allow me to explain!  When introducing the research and talking about the methodology, the researcher mentioned that one of the things they had measured was depression symptoms (using the Beck Depression Inventory, or BDI), but that since there was so much data she wouldn’t be discussing this in her short 30 minute presentation!  Naturally this disappointed me slightly, as someone with a very keen interest in depression.  So, once the talk was over and it was time for questions from the audience, I couldn’t help but ask how the BDI data had been used.  She explained that they had looked at the correlations between this and the various forms of emotional processing difficulty, in the same way as they had correlated these with ED symptoms.  BUT… “Did you look at the correlation between depression and eating disorder symptoms?” I asked!  “No” was the answer, but I got thinking about what the outcomes might be if they did…

What I’m thinking is this: although I’m purely speculating at this point, I think it’s fairly likely that there would be correlations between depression symptoms and ED symptoms.  In fact, in the study I have been talking about, a higher number of anorexia patients suffered from depression than healthy controls.  What I would like to know is what are the relationships between specific ED symptoms (for example, weight concern and eating concern) and depression?

Could depression and eating disorder symptoms be, to an extent, 'different but the same'?

Why am I so interested to know this?  Well, given the general in-my-opinion-too-high levels of weight and eating concern in Western society today, and the also-too-high depression rates, I feel this type of information could be very useful in combatting and preventing these types of problems.  

If you’ve read my previous posts you’ll already know that I have strong feelings about some of the things that should be happening to combat problems with body image and mental health.  If what I’ve suggested about the links between the two is true, this brings a whole new level of importance to combatting these problems!  (I realise I have made a swift shift from eating disorder symptoms to body image in the general population, but I think it’s fair to say that many people who wouldn’t necessarily be classed as having an eating disorder do experience high levels of weight and/or eating concern). 

If my claim that depression and ED symptoms are correlated is substantiated, this would mean we should be working towards interventions that aim to tackle both issues simultaneously; and given the high incidence of both, this could be extremely beneficial!  How we do this is a different question altogether, but as I’ve eluded to in previous posts, I think that schools and the media have very significant roles to play.  

Food for thought!

I realise this is all a bit woolly as it’s based on my own speculations to an extent – I do plan to try and find some relevant research literature and will be sure to do a more evidence-based post when I do! – But in the meantime, I hope you’ll agree, it certainly gives us some (excuse the pun) food for thought! 




 
Links:

Information about the Beck Depression Inventory:

http://www.apa.org/pi/about/publications/caregivers/practice-settings/assessment/tools/beck-depression.aspx