Double Whammy: Eating Disorders, Self-Injury Linked, According to Study

Oct. 8, 2010 — -- Danielle, a 23-year-old New York City resident who didn't want to use her full name, knows the pain and frustration of dealing with an eating disorder.

"I remember my whole life, even back to grade school, always wanting to be skinny," she said.

Her battle with an eating disorder started in college with over-exercising, which is a type of bulimia.

"Then, it was the binging and purging for a long time," she said. "And now, I'm not exactly battling bulimia, but I feel like I went to the other side -- anorexia -- because I don't eat as much as I am required to, nutritionally."

Danielle's struggle with her disorder became so bad one night that she cut the upper part of her thighs with a razor.

"I felt like I wanted to relieve pain and frustration," said Danielle.

Now, a study published in the latest edition of the Journal of Adolescent Health has found a link in adolescents between eating disorders and non-lethal, self-injurious behaviors like cutting and burning. It also found that in most cases, clinicians didn't screen for such behaviors.

"Self-injurious behaviors have been shown to be common in adults with eating disorders and in adolescents with bulimia in small studies," said study author Dr. Rebecka Peebles, formerly an instructor at the Stanford University School of Medicine and now an assistant professor at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.

Researchers from the Stanford University School of Medicine reviewed the medical records of nearly 1,500 patients between the ages of 10 and 21 who were diagnosed with an eating disorder at an eating disorder clinic over ann 11-year period. Only about 42 percent of them had documentation that they were screened for self-injurious behaviors when they first were seen in the clinic. Of those who had screening documentation, nearly 41 percent admitted to cutting or burning themselves.

The study suggested eating disorders and behaviors like cutting are linked, and also that people with eating disorders need to be more carefully screened for such behaviors.