Is running an analogue of anorexia nervosa? An empirical study of obligatory running and anorexia nervosa
J. A. Blumenthal, L. C. O'Toole and J. L. Chang
A recent report suggested that compulsive runners share a common set of
psychological traits and behavioral dispositions with patients with
anorexia nervosa. In an effort to objectively assess the similarity between
anorexia nervosa and obligatory running, 43 runners and 24 patients with
anorexia nervosa completed the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory
(MMPI). Results indicated that the obligatory runners generally scored
within the normal range, while the anorectic patients did not. The
anorectic patients obtained more pathological scores than the runners on
eight of the ten clinical subscales of the MMPI. Fifty percent of the
anorectic patients obtained elevations on three or more of the MMPI
subscales, while no runners obtained more than two scale elevations.
Depression (scale 2) and psychopathy (scale 4) were particularly prevalent
in the anorectic group. We conclude that obligatory runners do not suffer
from the same degree of psychopathology as do patients with anorexia
nervosa.
