Major Depression and Avoidant Personality Traits in Eating Disorders.

The lifetime prevalence of mood disorders in anorexia nervosa (AN) varies between 64.1 and 96%, and between 50 and 90% in bulimia nervosa (BN). Moreover, the prevalence of comorbid mood disorders among patients diagnosed with eating disorders (ED) is also high, between 12.7 and 68% among those with AN and 40% among those with BN [1] . The severity of depressive symptomatology seems to correlate with the severity of the ED [2–4] . Unfortunately, previous studies showed several limitations. Other factors that should be addressed are depressive personality traits. Instability and emotional liability, avoidant behaviors and depressive traits have been frequently found in ED patients [5, 6] . Some studies [7–9] have identified groups of patients with comorbid avoidant behaviors, depressed mood and constricted affect. This study aimed to (a) assess the prevalence of current major depression (MD) in a clinical sample of female patients with ED, (b) confirm the correlation between ED severity and diagnosis of MD, and (c) assess the differences in personality traits between ED patients with and without MD.